Letting Go of My Doctor and Holding on to God {journeying through life with autoimmunity}

Enduring autoimmunity (Hashimotos) now for 9 years has been no easy task. I have been on the roller coaster of ups and downs of going to doctors, waiting on test results, inability to reach a diagnosis, losing two babies, debilitating symptoms and feeling desperate after the rejection of doctor after doctor. After all, they are just human too. They want to make a pay check, they can only spend so much time with you, and they are not God so therefore often times cannot figure out what is exactly going on. Over these years God has been bringing me through the process of letting go of my doctor and holding on to Him.

When your doctor…

When your doctor tells you (in your 20’s), “Oh you can’t have thyroid problems you’re too young…” ~Hold on to God even when you lose two precious lives settling with that advice.
When your doctor tells you that you have Hashimotos and all you need to do is take T4 and you will be perfectly fine… ~Hold on to God, especially in the regret of that following that doctor’s advice.
When your doctor overdoses you on thyroid medication and then says all the horrific symptoms you are having are not related to the high dose of medication and wants to continue you on that dose… ~Hold on to God. He will use it for good.
When the ER doctor tells you, while your face is swollen so much you are almost unrecognizable, that “all tests have come back fine and there’s nothing wrong with you…” ~Hold on to God. He knows what’s going on.
When your doctor repeatedly comments on your dark circles at every single appointment making you feel like a worthless, ugly piece of dirt… ~ Hold on to God. He thinks you’re beautiful.
When your doctor tell you bogus, incorrect information like “when you don’t get sick I worry about you getting cancer…” ~ Hold on to God. He knows the Truth.
When your doctor rejects you by telling you that the symptoms you had while on one of their suggested supplements could not have happened or be true… ~Hold on to God. He knows better.
When your doctor gets angry at you for not sticking with what they suggested because it made you feel bad… ~ Hold on to God. He will protect you.
When your doctor keeps recommending the same tests (that are expensive) but does nothing new with the results and they are making no forward movement in your health… ~Hold on to God (and don’t pay for the tests!)

I could continue adding to this list but you get the point. There are so many opportunities for rejection, despair, sorrow and grief in a health journey that if we are only holding on to what the next human (doctor) says then we will always be on the roller coaster. Instead let’s cling to the TRUTH – God’s word. It will never return void.

[box type=”bio”] Holding on to God means to find comfort in His word, His truths, and His ways as you seek Him through your circumstances.[/box]

For a while now, in my health journey, I have been feeling a tug from the Lord let go of my doctor(s) and draw close to Him taking a break from doctor’s appointments and seeking root causes. I will still be sure to maintain my thyroid levels and get correct lab tests for the only medication I take (T3 & T4), but outside of that maintenance I have been prompted to seek the Lord in my health rather than seek the doctor’s advice. That means wait on Him for guidance, rest in Him, and seek Him – in other words spend time with Him. He is The Great Physician!

What an amazing God we serve!

You see, there is an amazing God that we serve that does not put us on or want us on that up and down roller coaster at all. The stress of being on it can cause health problems! If we don’t hold on to our Powerful Creator God (El) who knows us inside and out then we are chasing after the wind. He knows us better than any doctor.

I wanted to share with you some of God’s words that have given me great comfort through this very long and sometimes arduous journey.

♥ Philippians 4:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

♥ Psalm 31:24

Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

♥ Psalm 32:8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

♥ Psalm 32:10b

But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.

♥ Romans 12:1-2

I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

♥ Philippians 1:12

But I want you to know brethren, that the things which have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

♥ Jeremiah 17:5-8

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes his flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not feat when heat comes; but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

♥ Isaiah 55:8-9 (My life verse)

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts…”

♥ Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

♥ James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

♥ Proverbs 2:1-15 (Titled The Value of Wisdom)

My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding,if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk uprightly; he guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things,from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths.

♥ Jeremiah 29:12-13

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

♥ James 3:17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

♥ Matthew 7:7

(Jesus speaking) “Ask, and will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

♥ Hebrews 10:36

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…

God’s Word has been a source of comfort throughout my journey especially each time a doctor has failed me or I come home dejected. We can hold on to these verses with all our heart. He is trustworthy. Our doctor(s) cannot provide this comfort at all. It might be fleeting or temporary but not everlasting like the inspired Word of God and having the Spirit dwell inside of us. So next time you come home from a despairing doctor’s appointment turn to God. Hold on to Him. He won’t let you go!