If you’ve followed my story at all, you know that I had been walking the painful road of having neurological conditions for many years now. In short, as of March 2020, God has healed almost all of my symptoms through means of fasting, but the journey getting there has been incredible.
As a little side note, awhile back a friend of mine gave me a name tag sticker that had “healed” written in the name portion. She said the Lord told her to give it to me. I have had that name tag stuck on the inside of my Bible to see every time I open it and it has reminded me of the time coming in which I would be healed. It’s been years in waiting, but God is faithful and has done as He said He would!
Our Plans
Back in the beginning of 2019 as my symptoms began to get gradually worse, my husband and I had decided we would change our insurance to switch from Kaiser to widen to ability to get to a doctor that may be able to help me. Our open enrollment through his work wasn’t until the end of the year, so I continued to just carry on day by day through God’s sustaining grace, waiting until then.
November 2019 finally came and we had but a couple weeks left to switch our insurance. I had a feeling of hopefulness at the possibilities a different insurance carrier would bring to my journey, not knowing that God actually had other plans. Wednesday came and we headed to our home group bible study at the church and lo and behold, everyone except for one brother in the Lord wasn’t able to come, so he and we decided to just have a time of fellowship. After finding out about my health issues and the symptoms I’d been facing, he recommended his chiropractor who focuses on whole health. Fast forward to Sunday, he had talked to his chiropractor who agreed to do scans, x-rays, and evaluation for free!
I went to the chiropractor and was able to actually see the x-rays and scan results and how issues within my spine were affecting the rest of my body. I asked them if they took the insurance we’d be switching to (the only other option other than Kaiser we had available to us) and they did not. My husband and I felt that although we had made our plans, the Lord was clearly guiding our steps. So, we ended up staying with Kaiser (which was the best financial insurance option) and moving forward with chiropractic care.
GOD’S Plans
After about a month of seeing the chiropractor a few times a week, I noticed my daily headaches had started to decrease in intensity and frequency. Then the chiropractor asked me if I had ever thought about fasting. I had been doing intermittent fasting for a couple years and had done some 3 day fasts, but he was talking about long term fasting. He shared some research with me about long term fasting, which caused me to dive into my own extensive research about fasting.
As I researched through medical journals, scientific case studies, blogs of people who had done long term fasting, etc., I was blown away at the scientific evidence that shows how God created our bodies to heal during times of fasting. I mean, Jesus did it for 40 days but I guess I had only considered that He did it for spiritual benefits. In short, because the long version would take a reaaally long time to share, our bodies were created to go into what’s called autophagy during fasting periods. It is when the body works at an accelerated speed to clean up dead and damaged cells and produce new, healthy cells. It even gets rid of old scar tissue and has been proven through many cases to heal things such as diabetes, fatty liver, cancerous tumors, and put schizophrenia into remission.
My 30 Day Fasting Journey
I felt the Lord speak to me that I needed to do a 30 day water fast. I was excited, nervous, determined, and hopeful all at the same time. I did a hair sample test prior to starting to double check that I didn’t have anything like high amounts of heavy-metals that would need to be detoxed medicinally before. I also took essential water-soluble vitamins and minerals to keep my electrolytes up during the fast, but other than that, I only drank water during those 30 days.
How I felt
I went through all the phases and feels, from being so hungry in the first few days to being light-headed and unable to stand for more than about 5 minutes. Spiritually, I will be honest that I expected something different. I thought it would be this spiritual high so to speak and that I would experience God in some supernaturally magnificent way, but it wasn’t like that at all. Instead, I actually felt like I was in the wilderness and had to constantly be mindful to be in communication with God throughout it. I actually felt more distant to God emotionally, and had to fight the battle in my mind knowing that was not at all true. I was just as close to Him as before because His Spirit is alive in me whether I’m eating or fasting. God did sustain me completely though and I felt as though it was easier to hear Him when He did speak. I still served in worship and while I did have to sit down while leading, God strengthened me every Sunday to get up and serve Him and His church.
My Doubts and Fears
In the end, as I had finished the fast and began the 2 week period of slowly reintroducing food again, I faced doubt and fear that the symptoms that had disappeared during the fast would just come back again. I kept telling myself to wait to publicly share the news of healing until after I made sure it would stick. I was avoiding doing things that I knew used to trigger symptoms to flare. The enemy was attacking my thought life left and right. Thankfully the Holy Spirit, my supportive husband, and a few amazing sisters in Christ were right alongside praying for me and encouraging and exhorting me. The Lord brought a bible study podcast to my attention and the pastor spoke about not just sitting when the Lord has spoken something to you and being crippled with doubt and fear, but to walk boldly in it by faith. It was very clear that the Lord was confirming to my heart that I had indeed been healed of these symptoms and I had two options…live as if I were still crippled by them or get up and walk. I have chosen to get up and walk!
The Results - HEALING!!!
Physically, so much changed! Yes, I had lost 31 pounds and many inches, but more importantly God had used the fast to heal the majority of my neurological symptoms! By the time I had gotten to the point of deciding to fast, my good days were ending with a borderline migraine and some mild tremoring and brain fog, and my bad days were ending with mass amounts of pain, seizures, and not being able to walk and talk. As of writing this right now, which is a little over a month after completing the fast, the only symptoms I have are from POTS (tachycardia syndrome), some mild tinnitus, and mild pain. Let me tell you, this is a HUGE improvement for me! The other day, I went for a 2 mile jog – this was impossible before! If I had tried to do that before, I would have one, not made it that far, and two, ended up with lots of pain, tremors, brain fog, and unable to walk and talk. I truly believe that God is going to eventually heal ALL my symptoms and this is just the start. Until then, I am rejoicing for the healing He has provided and trying to once again, not take for granted the things I am capable of today.
DOWNLOAD: I’ve had many people reach out asking for more information on the specific details of my fast and the research I had done. I’ve attached a PDF with detailed information and links. To download it, click on “view attachment” below.
Update
Unfortunately, symptoms have been returning. While they currently are not as bad as before the fast, it has been quite the journey through discouragement, and testing my resolve and contentment in what God is allowing to happen in my body. He is good in the healing, He is good in the return of symptoms, He is good all the time and I have no doubt of that. I am continuing to research and try new treatment options, but ultimately my hope is in Jesus and I trust His good and perfect will regardless of how my health is.