A great appointment, and now...a trip to Carson City!

Corrie and I have been pretty amazed lately as we watch God's healing hand pull my body out of what has, at times, felt like an inescapable illness.  It seems like almost daily someone is coming up to us and marveling at how good I look.  My face is fuller with healthy color, I stand straighter, I walk faster...no cane now for almost two months.  We've been praying and believing for these things for a long time, but now that they are actually happening, it's almost hard to believe.

Its easy to wonder...Is it going to last?  Is this really the Lord?  Or my doctor?  Or my food?  Or what?  And something that seemed so easy to believe when it was furthest out of reach now gets assaulted by all of these "more plausible" possibilities. But we and so many others(you included!) have been praying for exactly what is happening.  The God who committed himself to being faithful to his word and to answer the prayers of his people, has done just that...answered prayer.

Certainly, the treatments I've received have been invaluable in my healing.  And my diet has been just as if not MORE valuable.  But those things are tools that the Lord has used to answer our prayers.  I used to think that this type of thinking reflected a lack of faith for miraculous healing...and I still think it can.  Sometimes its easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God will only heal through medicine and doctors, but we don't believe that the Bible limits God in this way.

I also think that, in these last several months, as we've been convicted by the Lord that he is our healer and that it is his heart to bring healing to those who are sick, he has stood with us and been our Captain in battle as we've chased down my healing through all available methods.  I believe that faith for healing can be answered in a miracle...and it can also be answered by having the Lord himself supercharge your doctor visits, treatments, research, and food choices.  It's as if he says, "I hear your prayers, and I will heal you.  Let's go hunt down this promise together.  I will fight for you and with you, and lead you through the battle."  And that is no less a miracle than the man whose withered limb is strengthened in an instant.  Or the woman whose cancer disappears overnight after hands were laid on her.

ANYWAY...the goal of this post was to tell you about our latest doctor visit...  Corrie and I went to two doctor's appointments on Friday August 31st.  And they were awesome!  The first appointment was with the doctor (whom we've written about before) who has done a lot of my previous testing to find my parasite and viral infections, etc..  The first thing she said, as she started tested was, "WOW!  You've been a saint with your food!"  That was so funny to hear, because, yes, for the last couple months I have been eating far different than I ever have before.  And I strongly believe that it has been part of this latest huge healing that's been happening.

To summarize her findings, most of my infections (which had been numerous) are gone.  Lyme and bartonella (a common co-infection) are still present, as is blastocystis hominis (a parasite).  But their prevalence in my body is SO much smaller than it was before.  It actually feels like my body has been able to get a leg up on them and start fighting back on its own!  There were NO more viruses (other than a cold virus I was fighting at the time), no candida, no mycoplasma...it was amazing!  Usually the test results she prints up are 4 or 5 pages long of infection numbers, this time we walked out of there with 2 pages of results!

Also, my hormone and thyroid function have massively improved.  For example, my testosterone was deficient at my last visit, but is totally normal now.  And blood tests for my thyroid were also below healthy, but those same tests this time came back healthy and normal!  My one weakness, she said, is my adrenals, which is probably mostly because I've been on prednisone, which has a tendency to knock them out a bit.

That same day we took those test results to our main doctor who was just amazed at how much I had improved, both visually and on paper.  As usual, he asked what I felt was going on in my body, and what I thought was causing this improvement, and I told him, "My food!"  I started telling him about everything I've been eating, and he got really excited.  He himself has been eating much the same for years now!  By the way, I plan to write a whole separate post on the food I've been eating.  It's amazing how healing FOOD has been and at how God designed our bodies to heal themselves if we give them the things that he provided for us to eat. 

So our plan going forward is to keep attacking the remaining infections with the same herbs I've already been using (they've been working so far!).  Also, we've just decreased my prednisone dosage from 20mg per day to 15mg per day.  That is HUGE!!!!  In the past, my body would not have been able to handle this without a huge flare of pain and swelling.  But it's been 3 weeks now, and while I've noticed a small increase in pain, it is absolutely nothing like what it would have been 3 months ago.  I can still function and exercise and do everything I was doing on 20mg.

I am so thankful for this answer to prayer, that God is healing me to the point of beginning to go off the prednisone. AND by the way!  The doctor who was doing my testing commented that, according to her tests, it appears as if prednisone has NOT been damaging my body as it could have been!  We asked you all specifically to pray that my body would not suffer any of the harmful effects of prednisone.  And my doctor confirmed that answer to prayer nearly word for word!

So, in short, I am still doing some herbal antibiotics (less than before), vitamins and supplements (much less than before), detox and exercise (MORE than before), and EATING WELL (again, another post on that soon).

The last part of our update is our trip to Carson City!

We leave TOMORROW!!!!!

We are so stoked to be combining a doctor visit with an early fall family vacay. Last week Corrie and I traveled with our pastors and a team of people up to our campground near Sonora, where Corrie led the childcare team for the District Pastor's Retreat. And who should be in that district but the church in Carson City! So, having met the pastors of that church, and watching their grandchildren at camp, we will be visiting new friends. Tomorrow we will head up and over the mountains to land us in Carson City. We will spend the night there, go to church the next morning, and then head back up into Tahoe.

A very kind couple in our church is letting us use their cabin in South Lake for the remainder of our stay up there. During my appointment on Monday, Corrie and Rebecca will do some exploring in Carson City, possibly visiting the children's museum and cool looking park right there in town. I'll join them for as much as I can in between and after my two appointments. We've heard that its a pretty cool little city.

If internet is available to us, Corrie hopes to write an update while we are there, if not, we will try to update you all just as soon as post trip unpacking, laundry and getting back to life-ness allows.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray that the Lord blesses our travel and keeps us safe.
2. Please pray that we have an enjoyable time as a family.
3. Please pray that the Lord blesses this doctor in NV and his staff, and that his treatments are successful in my body.
4. Praise God that my body is gaining ground! That prednisone is not affecting me negatively, and that we are beginning the weaning process!
5. Praise God that I have several tutoring students and several more in the works!

God is good always! We are so grateful for all He has done, is doing, and will do on our behalf.

Love, Matt and Corrie