(Revised September 2015)
Most of us who suffer
from illness will ask God to cure us.
His answer is not often an immediate cure. We are partners with God and He expects us to
do our part. As the treatment of
interferon injections have been unsuccessful in halting the progression of my
MS, my doctor and I decided to start a more aggressive treatment. The new treatment carries a higher health
risk but between the initial patient candidate screening and the continual monitoring
for adverse reactions, I feel that the health risks have been minimized. In addition to the more aggressive MS
treatment, I began another new medication that my doctor had hoped would
strengthen my legs. Unfortunately, though
successful in slightly improving my leg strength, the side effects I
experienced have caused me to discontinue its use.
Due to my growing number
of physical limitations and the demands of summer projects and family
schedules, with the exception of one short ride in a round pen on a friend’s
old mare, I did not ride this summer. In
addition, my visits with the horses in their stalls had to be short due to the
summer heat. I have asked God to take
the cross of MS from me. I wish I could
be braver and stoic about my illness, but I am struggling with what my loss of
independence and physical capabilities are costing me and my family. Lately, while talking to God about my current
state, I asked when my affliction would be gone, and God told me, “Soon.”
God uses the cliffhangers
in our lives as a means to strengthen our faith in Him. Whatever the final outcome, it is His
presence, His power, and His faithfulness that will be glorified. Through the answer God gave me, I was
reminded of the promise God made to Abraham. God promised Abraham that, through his wife
Sara, Abraham would become the father of nations. When Abraham and Sara had reached their
elderly years without producing the promised child, they began doubting God’s
promise. It wasn’t until it was humanly
impossible for Abraham and Sara to conceive that God intervened with a miracle
and blessed the couple with a child and from that child came descendants “more
numerous than the stars.”