The Testing of Our Faith

This month, I want to once again encourage you in your walk with the Lord and the challenges you may face in living out your faith every day.

From time to time, we all face trials of one kind or another that require us to make decisions which will affect our lives. The Lord cares deeply about each one of us and wants to be involved in these decisions.

A few years ago, my doctor told me I had elevated calcium levels. At first I wasn’t overly concerned, because I felt great and trusted the Lord with my health. But then I was referred to an endocrinologist (a specialist concentrating on the function of glands), and my concern heightened a bit after hearing his conclusions.

Because of my blood tests, the specialist was certain I had hyperparathyroidism. This condition affects the four small parathyroid glands, which are located behind the thyroid gland. One of the purposes of the parathyroid glands is to control the levels of calcium in our blood and make sure we have adequate calcium in our bones. When one of these glands is enlarged or has a benign tumor, it can malfunction, and the result is elevated calcium.
Medical Tests and Faith Tests

To make sure his diagnosis was correct, the specialist ordered a nuclear scan test. I was injected with radiation and a special dye that would enable the doctors to see if my parathyroid glands were enlarged or had growths on them.

The technician took a set of four pictures. Each one required me to lay absolutely flat and still for an entire hour. The screen came to within about two inches of my face, and I could barely manage to keep still.

I prayed the whole time, and the Lord helped me keep my composure. Yet I was so happy when this was over!

For months, I believed the Lord would supernaturally heal me. I confessed my healing and posted signs around our house: “I’m healed by Jesus’ stripes!” I also did spiritual warfare and told the devil he couldn’t touch me, since I’m covered by Jesus’ blood .

So each time a new blood calcium test was taken, I fully expected the nurse to call and tell me the results were normal. I was looking forward to testifying that God is our Great Physician!

But when I returned to the surgeon to discuss the test results, he still believed I needed to have surgery. I had never had major surgery before, and I was scared. My faith began to falter, and I wasn’t sure what the doctor might find once the surgery began.
Getting God’s Perspective

I knew I needed God’s outlook on this. After all, His Word promises that He’s working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

The more I prayed, the more I realized I must surrender the outcome of this situation to the Lord. I recognized that my thoughts aren’t always His thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9), and I found comfort in Jesus’ words: “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this” (John 13:7). All I could do was trust Him, even though I couldn’t understand His purposes in this trial.

While I was waiting for the final test to come back, I told the Lord again, “Here’s Your opportunity to finally show everyone Your healing power!” I was hopeful He would intervene at the last moment and heal me.

However, the calcium was still elevated. What a disappointment.

To be completely honest, I felt some guilt about having the surgery, because I come from a family that has such great faith in God’s healing power. Was the problem just my lack of faith?

But one day the Lord reminded me that He’s the one who gives the gift of healing, and He uses doctors all the time to heal people. I remembered that Luke, who wrote both the Gospel account and the book of Acts, was a physician.

So after much prayer and many discussions with Dave, the Lord gave me His perfect peace to go forward with the surgery.
Back to Normal

The surgery went great! The surgeon found two enlarged glands and one that had some small growths on it. So now I’m left with one healthy parathyroid gland, which is all that is needed. My blood tests are completely normal, I feel good, and I’m able to sleep much better.

During this time of testing, I had to hold on to God’s Word as my lifeline and learn to apply great passages such as Philippians 4:6-7 to my life:

Source: http://inspiration.org/the-testing-of-our-faith/