Daniel Fast, Day 4: Just Saying Hello :-)!

Hi, y'all, I know I said I had a wonderful account that I planned to share with you today of something that happened in the recent past, and I still mean to share it.  Just not today.  I'm really not concentrating very well lately, and the closer it gets to the end of the day, the more effort concentration takes.  Yet, in order to put down my full menu for the day, I need to wait until it's late; otherwise I may miss noting something that day, and I may not remember to make note of it the next day.  So I'm going to keep you in suspense for a little while longer.

I will tell you, though:  I believe that my Lord God has healed my back.  I'm clinging to this in the Spirit, and I'm living toward the complete manifestation of this wonderful reality.  The Daniel Fast that I'm currently doing is a part of that manifestation of healing.  The epicenter of it all came during a powerful Prophetic Conference that recently took place at Miracle Life Ministries International, a relatively new ministry which moved into the neighborhood at the beginning of 2011, not too long after I did.  I'm blessed, in fact, that I actually live very close by!  That whole time was a powerful time for me, in fact.  As I think on it, I was healed, and my life was touched, in more ways than one, particularly during that last session on the Saturday almost two weeks ago now.  Definitely it is a story that deserves its own entry.  I'm just saying:  Glory be to God for His unspeakable gifts to me on that day!

As for this day, I almost hesitate to tell you the menu, lest you think I copy-pasted it from yesterday.  I assure you, I did not :-).  I started off with a handful of raw almonds and a banana.  I actually got in my planned day's walk looking for the place where I bought it.  I bought two of them and two apples.  After I got home, I had a handful of almonds to hold me until I could drain, rinse, and sauté some cut string beans from a can.  I sautéed them in olive oil, with Kosher salt and pepper to season them.  Right before taking them out of the sauce pan, I dashed two capfuls of concentrated lemon juice over them to balance out the oil.  They were good paired with more roasted almonds that I prepared today after getting home.  I still have a few left, and I'm debating eating them with an apple before bed.  These taste better than the ones from last night, because I roasted these at 250ºF.  Healthy or not, it's the high temperature that makes roasting such a flavorful way to cook anything, and there's something to be said for roasting nuts at a high enough temperature to make a difference.  To my back, my almonds, my life—Vive la difference!  And Hallelujah!

Happy New Year, and What's Happened Since The Last Time

Happy New Year, everybody! Here's hoping you've all gotten it off to a grand start after winding up the previous year with a Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa.

You're noting the huge gap in time since the cygnet last sang to you. It's be a crazy time for me and mine. Some lives transitioned from one plane of existence to another between holidays, and we celebrated it all with all the bitterness and sweetness that such occasions engender. And there have been other pieces of the business of life for all of us.

For me personally, it has been health issues. If you remember from my last post in early November, I got a job and surrendered it at the end of the first training day. In addition to the reasons I cited then, the events that have followed have all convinced me that I did indeed decide wisely that day.

At the end of that post, I outlined a course of action that included paying especial attention to my health, namely, my chronic back problem, which has steadily deteriorated over the last approximately 11 years. It also included taking steps to apply for Accessible Raleigh Transportation so that getting to and from future jobs might not be an issue in any one for which I applied. I jumped right on both of those things.

First was an initial visit to my current orthopedist, who x-rayed me, asked me questions, started me on steroids, nerve pills, and the most effective pain killer I've had to date, and sent me to get an updated MRI scan. When I returned to the ortho, MRI CD in hand, she sent me to an ortho surgeon. About this visit I will not speak except to say that I hope it is long and long before another such person engenders in me the thoughts and feelings with which I left this person's office. I dragged myself, courtesy of a friend, back to the ortho, who pledged to help as much as possible, did a brief exam, added another drug to my painkiller, and told me to come back in two weeks. The two-week visit was two days ago. On that day the ortho filled out the requisite portion of paperwork that must be completed as part of the application for ART, scheduled me for an injection to address inflammation in some joints in my lower back, and sent me back to the pharmacy for more stuff. The pharmacy didn't have the stuff, because it's quite new on the market; and I guess I must have been the first person whose doctor prescribed it, because other similar pharmacies also reported not having any. In addition, the price of the stuff was such that I knew I wouldn't make it financially through the rest of this month if I tried to get it, so I didn't.

The good news, if it can be called that, is that I now have a completed ART application to take to the appropriate people to set the wheels in motion for one part of the program. Once I finally remember to schedule an eye appointment, I can get that worthy person to sign off on the application for the other part of the program. Then I turn it all in and wait—and pray—for a favorable outcome.

So why is all this an issue? WebMD and these good folks can tell you why my type of back pain is an issue generally. For me particularly, the standard treatments—pain pills, heating pads, electric massage therapy, physical therapy, diet and exercise, injections—have not done very much for my back, if they did anything at all. Some of these things I've tried repeatedly, to no avail. Some of these things—diet, and what exercise I feel motivated and able to do without too much additional pain—I will continue to try, because while they have done nothing for my back specifically, I know experientially that they have great benefits in other ways, and I want to reap those benefits. However, not only has my back gotten progressively worse despite the trial of all these things and the benefits some of them have had in other ways, I have experienced an increase in rapidity in my back's worsening, and other parts are beginning to be compromised. If this continues, there will arise challenges that I will need to prepare to meet.

Getting approved for ART will help me to meet some of these anticipated challenges. Other things that I have done in the last couple months will help as well, and I will tell you about them in an upcoming post. I will also keep you apprised of my continuing trials and triumphs in my other challenges that are already ongoing. Stay tuned!