So Long!

My Baby started preschool!!!

Wow! What a year it has been. I can't believe it's been that long since I've posted, but alas! It has been a year. So much has happened, good and bad, but what I know most is that I spent much of the time feeling sad and sorry for myself, and really not caring about what I was eating. This of course led to some weight gain, which led to feeling sorry for myself, which led to emotional eating, and so on and so forth. Obviously not good. I must say I had bursts of courage and hope when I would try and force myself back into healthy eating habits and exercise, but nothing stuck.

That is until the beginning of last month, September, when my wonderful and amazing husband had had enough. You see, when I don't eat healthfully, neither does he and his pants were starting to fit too tight just like mine. He decided enough was enough and we were going to get healthy. It really helps to have someone to push you and encourage you. We spent all of last month tracking calories, exercising, and shedding pounds. It was amazing! He lost 10 pounds in just 5 weeks, and I lost 7 in 4 weeks.

I literally felt like a weight had been lifted and I could see through the fog.

In February of this year, we moved into a new house, so exciting and lots of room to move! But a week later I ended up in the hospital with unexplainable chest pain. It wasn't my heart. They told me it was heartburn, possibly stress related.  They prescribed me heartburn meds. When I was finally able to get to see a GI Dr. he said the same thing, but ordered an ultrasound of my abdomen. My gallbladder is full of stones, they told me. But that's not what was causing the pain so I also had an endoscopy done, which revealed Barrett's Disease in my esophagus and gastritis. They gave me more heartburn medicine and a follow up appointment 3 months later. I really wanted to try and control the heartburn through right eating and exercise, but was told it probably wouldn't work and once Barrett's is present I needed to be on the meds. So I ate. Whatever I wanted. Whenever I wanted. I told myself I was being good, but as I look back I was eating emotionally. I was sad that I had a "disease" and since I was on meds I basically gave myself permission to eat whatever passed my way.

Well, when Josh made his decision to be healthy he really decided for both of us and it helped me get out of the funk I was in. I was doing really well, feeling like I can do this and who cares if I'm sick, I will be healthy! I found some really good online resources about healing your gut and all the other parts of your body that can be affected by an unhealthy GI system. I decided to go off my meds and work on my eating as hard as I can.

Then last week I started having terrible pain in my shoulder and neck. I went twice to the chiropractor but it kept getting worse. I finally went to my primary care physician and he had an x-ray done. Apparently I have arthritis in my spine. What the heck!??! That's all I could think. I'm 33 how does this happen?! I felt like I'd been hit with a ton of bricks. Just when I had decided to get healthy and I'd been exercising for a month straight and getting more into it...now I can barely move. I'm laid out on the couch for two days. The meds my doctor gave me for pain and to relax my muscles barely take the edge off. Back to sad and feeling sorry for myself... Oh yeah, and emotional eating.

Once I worked through the feelings of overwhelm and injustice, I remembered that the book I bought about healthy digestion has an entire section about arthritis. Maybe one does affect the other. Maybe I've been preparing for this for the last month. Maybe God already knew this was coming and He's got a plan and a purpose.

My sister reminded me of these verses:
Isaiah 58:8
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Psalm 107:20-22
He sent out his word and healed them;
    he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
    and tell of his works with songs of joy.

In our Bible study this morning she gave this verse:
I Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

So I rejoice. I will be on a new food journey: learning to eat foods that heal my body. And I will be on a new prayer journey: learning to pray for healing in my body.  I hope to learn a lot along the way. I hope to share all that I learn so that the glory of Christ may be revealed in the ordeal and trial.