WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
By: Ann White, Retired RN
I heard a very good statement the other day by one
who has been a mentor of mine for years.
She said, “if we would only line up our emotions with the Word of God,
we wouldn’t have to take all the medicine we take today.”
In my previous articles on “Who Do We Blame Now?” I have indicated there
is a connection between how we react to situations and our daily health
status. I have also referred to the term
“homeostasis,” which means the state of our body when it is working well and
everything is “balanced.” This is in connection
with our immune system, endocrine system, hormones, central nervous system and
all the organs that are related to those systems.
Please now, let me go back “in the story of my life,” to show you I’m not
perfect and have been through some things that have definitely caused illnesses
in my life – again related to the choices I made that were very wrong,
definitely not in accordance with the Word of God, we call the Bible. Hopefully
this will speak to some of you who think those of us who write articles are
without anything wrong in our lives. It
should also encourage you, no matter where you are in this phase of your life,
be it good or bad, there is always a way to “fix it with God.”
When I was 27, I went through an agonizing 8-month long divorce. At the time it started, I was an “independent
woman,” who thought she knew it all. I
was very selfish and of course, thought the grass was greener on the other
side. I had three beautiful children,
and my weight was 115 pounds. The weight
statement is there for a reason. At that
time I was very much a type A personality, without paying much attention to the
Word of God to guide me. I couldn’t go
back to the church where I had gone because they said I couldn’t come back
unless I stayed with my husband. I
wasn’t about to do that.
Needless to say, my reactions to different situations and people, mostly
negative, took their toll on my body. My
stomach hurt, I couldn’t eat, I became very fearful, thinking I might die and I
wasn’t ready. I took as many pills a day
to sleep as I could to “escape.” My
husband sought custody of the children and won – there was a lot of money
involved.
My weight gradually decreased to 96 pounds. I ended up going to the hospital to have IV
fluids, as I couldn’t keep anything down.
All of the negative emotions I was choosing to live by e.g. running
people down that supported my husband, losing my children (due to some of my
own choices), being afraid, etc. took its toll.
When we involve ourselves in making choices outside of what God directs
us to make in His Word, we will only suffer bad results. I was a living example of that.
BUT GOD is always faithful to those of us who have at one time or another
made Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. I
always knew deep down inside there was still a chance that God loved me. In my own quiet time, I re-committed my life
to the Lord Jesus. Meanwhile, I had to
learn how to handle things His Way, if I was ever going to come out of this
96-pound nightmare.
I got out the Bible and began to see things the way God
says we are to see them. I found
out what the natural world has to offer doesn’t change and/or do away with the
problem. It helped for a while, but
ultimately I found that God and His Word are the only permanent and lasting
way.
I found out in I Corinthians 13:4-8 that God had a certain way for me to
react to things. One thing was “love
isn’t touchy, fretful or resentful.”
Those were all the negative emotions I had participated in when I was
going through the divorce. One of the
ones that was really hard to swallow was, “love
doesn’t take into account when it suffers a wrong.” If we are going to react according to the worlds way of doing things, we will take it into account and
work it over and over in our minds – that in itself will make you need “Nexium or Prilosec.” Negative emotions affect you physically. In other places in scripture God tells us we
can’t hate anyone, and we have to forgive everyone, or our Heavenly Father
won’t forgive us. I know now that He
told us that because those emotions will open the door to so many things that
affect our health. There are chemical
reactions that are associated with those negative emotions that do incredible
damage to your body, especially over a long period of time.
As I began to work with God, the Holy Spirit and my Bible, did considerable
and intelligent repentance, I began a day at a time to walk out of the horrible
life I had not only made for myself, but my children too. Fear had such a grip on my life I was afraid
to go out of the house by myself. When I
found out that fear was a demonic spirit – I Timothy tells us that “God hasn’t
given us a SPIRIT of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind, and I found out
about my authority and ability to use the Name of Jesus to get rid of those
“things,” I got free!! I learned how to
speak the Word of God in answer to situations, instead of using the reactions I
had learned living in the world.
It is now some years later and I am a totally free woman. I am very happily married to the most
wonderful man any woman could ask for. It
is my pleasure to be a submitted wife, and give up being the type A personality
woman, who knew it all, and didn’t do it God’s way. I live in divine health by reacting to
situations the way God says I should. I
live with all of my needs met, having plenty more to “give away as God
directs.” I have just invented a new
piece of exercise equipment that is in the process of being patented and
marketed the first of the year. My husband
and I are “doing it together” and it is wonderful. I still have my independence, but in the
right way, being “dependent upon my God, and walking with my husband.”
Take time to learn about your emotional reactions and how they are
affecting your health. Are you too busy
and stressed to the max? Take time out
to “get together with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit” and see how they want you
to handle things. You will either take
the time now, or your health will take you to the place where you will be
forced to.
I strongly recommend a book entitled, “
Develop
your relationship with our “Father God, the Lord Jesus and the Holy
Spirit.” Look at it as a relationship
and not a religion. Know that no matter
where you are, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit love you individually and want
to work with you to accomplish all the right reasons you were created for. Jesus didn’t say “I came that you might have
LIFE and life more abundantly” to have us going around with all the diseases
and stuff that He died on the cross to make us free from. If He said in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven,” it must be possible or He wouldn’t have said
it.
I can testify to the fact, there is safety, health, well-being and peace
in “doing it the Bible way.” I have made
the Bible my “final answer.”
