MY TESTIMONY

I became a Christian in the seventh grade at Briarwood Christian High School in Birmingham, Alabama.  We had mandatory chapel once a week, and I remember bowing my head and asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my heart.  He did and my life was forever changed, although I didn’t feel any different at that point.  From then on, Jesus was with me and the Holy Spirit lived inside of me.

I was born with a hemangioma (blood vessel tumor) inside my left foot.  I didn’t have any problems with it until the age of eight when my foot split open after going off the diving board at the neighborhood swimming pool.  Blood went everywhere!  I was rushed to the hospital, doctors would stitch my foot, it would heal, and then it would split open again.  This happened several times.  By the time I was twenty-three, I had had five major surgeries on my foot.  The doctors would try to scrape out the tumor, but it always grew back.

Finally, at the age of twenty-three, I decided to have my left leg amputated below the knee.  I have never regretted that decision and, by God’s grace, have done very well since then.  Most people don’t even know that I have an artificial leg.  I never let my amputation slow me down.  I took a scuba diving class soon after and went back to work as a legal secretary a few days after my surgery, with my “residual limb” (my dad never let us call it a "stump") propped up on my desk.  

At the age of twenty-five, after going through a rebellious phase where I wasn’t walking with the Lord in obedience to His Word, God got my attention.  I became sick and had to go to bed.  At that point, when all my activities were taken away, God showed me my sinfulness.  I repented, got involved in a good church and began to really grow as a Christian.  At that time I was living with three other Christian girls in a house in Alabama, and I began participating in Evangelism Explosion (“EE”) at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  Every Wednesday evening, my trainer, roommate and I went visiting people who had visited Briarwood and shared the “EE” presentation with them.  This really had an impact on my life in a big way!  It was very exciting for me to be able to share my faith in Christ with others and to see others come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

At the age of thirty, God brought another severe trial into my life – my husband.  Just kidding!  I became very ill with a chronic illness called Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome or “CFIDS”.  At that time, I had no idea what a chronic illness was, nor did I know anyone who had one.  I was almost totally bedridden the first year, and occasionally in severe pain, with nausea, headaches, vomiting and irritable bowel syndrome.  After being completely debilitated the first year, my health improved slightly.  In answer to prayer, I was able to work part-time at a local hospital here in North Carolina the second year of having CFIDS.  I worked for three years as the meeting room scheduler for the hospital and enjoyed that very much.  It was a job that required dealing with lots of different people, and I am definitely a people person! 

It took six years of going to doctor’s offices in Orlando, Jacksonville and finally North Carolina to finally get a diagnosis of why I was always sick.  At that time the disease would cycle, so sometimes I would be deathly ill and other times I would feel that I was getting better.  It was actually a doctor here in NC that God led me to who finally diagnosed me correctly as having CFIDS.  It was great to finally have a name for what I had been going through for so many years! This doctor had other patients with CFIDS, so he had no problem diagnosing me and he knew that CFIDS is a real disease.

In the Spring of 2001, God, in His faithfulness, opened up the door for me to be in an Ampligen study at my doctor's office in Charlotte, NC.  The study lasted for sixteen months and was double-blind, so I didn't know whether or not I was receiving the real drug or a placebo for the first nine months.  The last six months of the study, everyone got the real drug.  I stayed on Ampligen for three years and today, praise God, I am up to about 70% of my normal energy level!

God has used CFIDS to teach me many things and to change me in many ways.  I am a different person than I was fourteen years ago.  I have matured more, because I have been through much, and God has built more humility, compassion, perseverance and patience into my life that was not there before.  He has also chiseled away at the selfishness and pride in my life, and has taught me more about forgiveness.  He is still using my limitations to wack away at the roots of a complaining and grumbling spirit.  I have grown closer to Christ through this trial and He has blessed me with many wonderful friendships and a writing ministry to encourage others with chronic illnesses to find hope and strength in Him.

I love Luke 1:37 and Mark 10:27 that say, “For nothing is impossible with God.”  Despite the trials I have been through in my life, I know that I can trust God to bring good out of them and to be glorified in them (Romans 8:28).  What a Mighty God we serve!!!