Our Journey Towards Faith, Part 1

Ten years ago, my husband David was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. At the time, Dave was still walking and functioning generally well, although he stumbled occasionally and grew fatigued from any slight exertion. Before the diagnosis, God had assured him that his physical challenges were only temporary and that he would be well again. This promise wasn't surprising because we knew that God could heal people, but I still questioned my faith in God when the doctor told me of the MS diagnosis. I didn't know much about MS, but I did know there wasn't a cure for it, and that the eventual result, in all cases, is death. Dave handled it much better than I did; he was very matter-of-fact about it, “There are only three options: one, the doctor is wrong, and it’s not MS; two, it is MS, but a cure will be discovered; and three, it is MS, and God, who created our bodies, knows how to fix it and can make me well.”

The current treatments for MS were anti-inflammatories and pain killers which were used for treating the cycles of intense pain common to most MS patients. But Dave had none of this pain, only a gradual, but consistent, loss of control over his muscles. Dave’s illness didn't fit the mold that his doctors were accustomed to, and they didn't know how to treat him. More than once, he was told that there was nothing that could be done for him. This was very frustrating to both of us, but the lack of pain, along with the hope in God’s blessing, allowed us to look beyond the standard treatments and turn to God for answers, direction, and ideas.  God was very gently showing us that, if we would trust Him, He would show us other options besides the limited perspectives we had had. This was the beginning of our journey, our education in matters of faith. Only we didn't know that it was faith we were learning until much later.

 

David at Disneyland in 2004 - His first wheelchair experience.

When I was in college, my psychology instructor taught about a concept called “self-fulfilling prophecy” or the “Pygmalion Effect.” One example my instructor used to describe this was that of a teacher telling a student that he will never be successful because he is stupid; the student starts to think that he’s stupid, and thus, he doesn’t do well in school and doesn’t accomplish anything purposeful with his life. That made sense to me at the time, but I didn’t do anything with it besides filing it away in the back of my mind.

After David’s diagnosis, the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy was brought to my attention again; everywhere we turned, there were references to this idea: A friend recommended a book, we stumbled across a website, my brother asked our opinion about something he’d heard. We finally figured that maybe God was trying to tell us something, so we started actively exploring and researching the power of a person’s beliefs and thoughts to affect change in his life and to determine the person he would become. I thought that if our beliefs create our reality, then maybe, by changing the way we think, we could also change our reality. If the “stupid” student starts to believe that he’s actually smart and capable, his results will change; he will earn better grades and change the course of his life. I liked that thought.

David and I started to question whether some of our thoughts and beliefs were correct or if they were based on incorrect assumptions (made by ourselves, our parents, or other authorities in our lives). Some of these beliefs were:

- Only doctors who are licensed to practice traditional Western medicine can effectively treat illness and injury. Everyone else is a quack (including chiropractors, acupuncturists, herbalists, etc.). This is also true for any medications that aren’t prescribed by licensed doctors who practice traditional Western medicine.

- There is nothing I can do about the challenges or trials in my life; it’s the will of God, it’s my lot in life, and I should just endure it and hope to learn something from it.

- There are a lot of great things I want to do, but I can’t because I don’t have enough money (or education or experience).

- God doesn't want me to have money; it’s dangerous to have money because money is the root of all evil, and I might become prideful and damn myself.

- Suffering is just part of life. If we don’t suffer, we can’t be happy.

- This is the way everyone does it, the way it’s always been done, so it must be right.

- It’s not right for me to want something different; I should be happy with what I have, after all, there are starving people in China.

What if those belief statements are inaccurate or even blatantly false? Can I change them? If it works for the “stupid” student, will it work for me also? We decided to try it – to change our way of thinking.  We asked God to help us separate the true beliefs from the mere traditions, and we gradually started to become aware of different options and to make changes in our perspectives.

I’m going to stop here for today and call this Part 1. Watch for more of Our Journey Towards Faith in Part 2. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what I've posted so far.