Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

Apparently I’m a daisy. I always knew I loved them for a reason!!

You Are a Daisy

You see the world with an artist’s eye. Finding beauty is easy for you - even in the dullest of moments. You notice all of the colors of the world, from fresh grass to sunsets. You are a total optimist and hedonist. You love to drink life in.

Apparently I’m a daisy. I always knew I loved them for a reason!!

You Are a Daisy

You see the world with an artist’s eye. Finding beauty is easy for you - even in the dullest of moments. You notice all of the colors of the world, from fresh grass to sunsets. You are a total optimist and hedonist. You love to drink life in.

I’m sitting here on my couch, reading a good book, when all of a sudden I get this nasty ringing in my ears and it won’t stop. I finish my book and decide to use my laptop and the ringing will not cease or desist. I move my head this way, then that way, stretch my neck…my I must have a lot of tension in my neck or something. I Google “sudden ringing in ears”, I’m getting desperate here. Nothing “rings” a bell. I haven’t had a recent concussion, or injury, no loud noises (it’s dead quiet in here, girls are sleeping). So what the heck.

An hour goes by. I can’t take it anymore. Maybe it’s the fridge or the laptop. Sometimes devices do that. So I decide to try and follow the ringing. (should have thought of this 45 minutes ago before the nasty headache set in at the base of my skull!!!!). Lo and behold…it’s a toy…the batteries have died. I switch it off and sweet relief!

I just wanted to tell everyone about the proud, heart-filling evening I’m having. We decided to sponsor a little girl in Africa today. I feel like I’ve added someone new to my family. I don’t know much about her yet, only that her name is Rachidatou Baga, her birthday is the same as mine (that’s not why I picked her, although it did make the decision easier), and she lives in
Burkina Faso (which up until today I didn’t know was a country in Africa).

I know to some of you it may not seem like a huge deal, but my grandparents always had a child sponsor and I remember reading their letters and thinking “one day I will sponsor a child and make a difference”. That day has come for me and it’s a HUGE milestone in my life. I got all choked up when I hit the “send” button on the website.

Welcome to our family, Rachidatou!! We love you already.

So far so good. I’m surprised by my willpower thus far. I don’t think on any cleanse I’ve ever done that I’ve ever lasted 5 days without just sampling a little something (shows just how little self-control I normally have and how I got in this predicament in the first place). So that is a testament to God’s abundant grace.

On a further positive note, the die-off symptoms are appearing more and more. This is a wonderful thing. I’m braced for battle, and I’m seeing the impact of starving out the yeast. Fatigue, lethargy, horrible acne, rashes cropping out on my skin, headaches…I look like crap, but it’s all still a good sign and only by the grace of God am I coping with them and prepared for them. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I’m standing on God’s word and looking them in the face and saying “Bring it on, I’m ready, because this means I’m getting better”. And really, the end is in sight. It shouldn’t last more than a couple weeks at the most. So then I’ll have more energy than all of you put together (oh yes, the old Erin will be back!).

Oh, and another prayer request is that I won’t get an ear infection as the yeast comes out (it happened last time and is quite common) not only because of the uncomfortableness of it, but because I don’t want to go on antibiotics as that is totally counterproductive to this cleanse (yeast thrives on antibiotics). And thank you all for the encouragment I’ve recieved so far. You are an integral part of my healing process.

And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.

I think this will be my mantra.  I just want to encourage anyone who is having a tough time “doing what is right”, don’t give up.  God is with us and he will meet all our needs each day in each difficult moment if we turn to Him.  Bless you today!

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Aidan: Fire of God
Be aglow and burning with the Spirit.  Romans 12:11

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(aka: get rid of the crappy yeast making me sick, tired and bloated!!!!)

So I’ve made it through the first 24 hours of this program. I just keep telling myself “one day at a time”. I’ve hit the first die-off symptom; headache. It’s making my eyes burn. But that’s actually a good thing (that’s what I need to remind myself) because it means my body is in withdrawl from something it wants and I’m not giving it what it wants (yeast and anything that promotes yeast growth: sugar (and there are like a hundred different names for sugar that the sneaky buggers use to try and fool us), alcohol, MSG, preservatives, vinegar, etc., etc.). And I’ve told myself I will not cheat. Not once. I will be strong.

I was kind of discouraged at the outset. It’s a huge chore to cook without encountering something I shouldn’t have. But I must say I made a wicked lasagne yesterday. All natural. I even made the pasta sauce from scratch. And supper only took me 2 hours from beginning to end. Hopefully I’ll do better so that I don’t spend the next 2 months in kitchen cooking from sun-up to sun-down.

I was told by my dear sister, Svea, that I should remember to go to the Lord and ask for His Holy Spirit to help me with self-control and strength, creativity and wisdom in what to eat. That’s a hard thing to do when you already feel so distant from God. So I had to shake myself and crawl back. I spent an evening on the couch listening to some good music and crying out to my God to pull me close. It was hard to break down the wall of pride and admit that I had drifted. All I know is that I won’t do this diet on my own strength. I already know that because I’ve failed it twice before. So if you remember, please pray for me. This is more than just a silly diet to lose weight (although that’s a great benefit), it’s going to make me healthier, stronger and hopefully build my relationship with Jesus.

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