Serving a Supernatural God in an Ordinary World—Is He Your Superhero?

25 September, 2012 by 10 Comments

 

For seven years I sought the help of medical doctors, psychologists, chiropractors, and other natural healers to cure me of grand-mal seizures, migraine headaches, depression, and opiate addiction. I hate the think about the thousands upon thousands of dollars I spent doing so.

All that time, I had a direct line to a Superhero. I kept relying on worldly resources when I really needed the Great Physician. The creator of the universe. The ultimate healer. The one who holds the answers to every question. The one who holds the master plan.

As is human nature, I looked for answers myself. I failed. As a Christian, I had direct access to the supernatural. Being born again give you access to the spiritual world. I mean think about it. “Born Again.” You certainly can’t be stuffed back into your mother’s uterus!

 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NLT)

Born again = Born from above.

I just had to get past myself to realize it. Which apparently took seven years, because apparently I’m fairly stubborn. Once I finally stopped looking inward, and began looking upward, asking God his plan, he healed me overnight. Exactly two years ago today.

On September 25, 2010, I woke up completely free.

Seizures? Gone.

Headaches? Gone.

Depression? Gone.

Addiction? Gone.

He reached his arm down into this ordinary world, and lifted me up to a supernatural place. Other than a few minor headaches, I can honestly say I’ve been completely free from seizures and all medication.

Happy Birthday to me!

Do you have a problem that is beyond your control? Release it to God. Seek out his plan. He can handle it. He’s THE SUPERHERO.

 

From my heart,

Celeste

Filed Under: Beating Depression, Chronic Illness, Fighting Your Fears, Freedom in Christ, Living in Faith, Living with Purpose, Miracles Do Happen, Overcoming Addiction, The Power of Prayer, Uncategorized, Your Relationship with God Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Addiction may be stalking closer than you think…

15 July, 2012 by 1 Comment


I wanted to share this poem again today. This poem has been a very popular blog post for me, and I didn’t know who wrote it until today. From what I’ve found, a 21-year old woman wrote it by the name of Ashley Van Davis who lost her life to crystal meth. It was found in the top drawer of her dresser after she died.

She may have written it about crystal meth, but it applies to any addictive substance. Once your brain is altered toward addiction in any way, the addiction takes over.

God created our brains to handle whatever comes our way. It’s so complex only our almighty God could have only created it! Here’s a diagram that shows the parts of the brain most closely related to handling our feelings, emotions…portions of our brain that processes everything that happens to us. To see a description of each part of the brain click here. Even if you don’t understand any of the medical language, it’s worth a glance just to be awed by God’s creation. 



Anytime we put anything in our body that affects the way our brain works, God’s perfect system is altered. Unfortunately, in our society today with preservatives in food, prescription drugs, and all the chemicals in our beauty products, our bodies are struggling to process chemicals all the time. We are fighting an uphill battle as it is, so anything we put in our body that affects our brain causes the system to be off kilter. And if any of those substances are addictive, Satan gets a powerful strongholdthat’s hard to beat—a stronghold that is illustrated so well by Ashley’s poem: 

PILLS
I can destroy homes and tear families apart,
Take away your children, and that’s just the start.
I’m more costly than diamonds, more costly than gold;
The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.

If you need me, remember, I’m easily found.
I live all around you, in schools and in town.
I live with the rich and I live with the poor.
I live down the street, and maybe next door.

My power is awesome. Try me, you’ll see.
But if you do, you may never break free.
Just try me once and I might let you go.
But try me twice, and I’ll own your soul.

When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll lie.
You do what you have to just to get high.
The crimes you’ll commit, for my narcotic charms
Will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in your arms.

You’ll lie to your mother; you’ll steal from your dad
When you see their tears, you should feel sad.
But you’ll forget your morals and how you were raised,
I’ll be your conscience, I’ll teach you my ways.

I take kids from parents, and parents from kids,
I turn people from God, and isolate them from friends.
I’ll take everything from you, your looks and your pride,
I’ll be with you always, right by your side.

You’ll give up your family, your friends and your home,
You’ll lose all your money, and you’ll be alone.
I’ll take and take, till you have nothing to give.
When I’m finished with you you’ll be lucky to live.

If you try me be warned, this is no game.
If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane.
I’ll ravish your body; I’ll control your mind.
I’ll own you completely; your soul will be mine.

Nightmares I’ll give you while lying in bed.
Voices you’ll hear from inside your head.
The sweats, the shakes, and the visions you’ll see,
I want you to know, they’re all gifts from me.

When it’s too late, you’ll know in your heart,
You are all mine, and we shall not part.
You’ll regret that you tried me; they always do;
But you came to me, not I to you.

You knew this would happen. Many times you were told,
But you challenged my power, and chose to be bold.
You could have said no, and just walked away,
If you could live that day over, now what would you say?

I’ll be your master; you’ll be my slave,
I’ll even go with you, when you go to your grave.
Now that you’ve met me, what will you do?
Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you.
I can bring you more misery than words can tell.
Come take my hand, let me lead you to hell…

Ashley lost her life to addiction. She wrote this poem from her heart. Share this anywhere you can to make others aware of what addiction can do. Addiction is happening all around us, but it’s not a subject that likes to be exposed. Social stigma, fear, and rejection are all reasons people hide addiction. For many, once addiction has hold of it’s prey, it’s impossible to break free. The best way to fight addiction is to educate people and arm them with the tools they need to never be trapped by an addiction in the first place. 

Don’t let it happen to you, your best friend, your neighbor, your daughter, or your son…because chances are it’s stalking closer than you think. 
From my heart, 
Celeste



Filed Under: Brain Functions, Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: , , , ,

Plane Crashes, Drug Addiction, and Tomorrow

3 May, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sitting here in tears. I just finished reading Heaven is Here, a memoir by Stephanie Nielson, author of the blog, NieNie Dialogues.
In my last post, I told you I’d share a funny story about our flight to Florida last week—the one where I overcame my eighteen-year-old fear of getting on an airplane with my hubby while leaving our kids at home. 
Since I am attempting to write a book and actually get it published, I’m doing a great deal of reading memoirs. While at Wal-Mart doing some last minute shopping for my trip, I noticed a new book on the shelf: 



I made the cover of the book really big for you to see…it is a memoir of inspiration and hope. Not unlike the message I am conveying in my book. So I bought it. 

I was feeling pretty good about our trip. We gave the kids a loving, “so long” as we dropped them off at school, and off to the airport we went. We boarded the plane; I said my trusty trust prayer: 

“God, I’m putting my trust in you today. 
No matter what happens, good or bad, I know you have it under control,
 and it’s all part of your plan to create an eternity beyond my wildest dreams.”

…And off we went. 
There was quite a bit of turbulence, so I pulled out my new book to keep my mind occupied. There really should have been a little more information on the cover of this book, or maybe I should have turned it over to read the back. Here’s how the book starts: 

 

 

A voice whispered, “Roll.”          

I fell to the ground and crushed the brilliant flames that licked at my clothes, my skin, my hair. The mangled wreck of our airplane blazed nearby. 

Really God? Of all the books I had to bring with me to read it had to be a memoir about a horrific plane crash? And she had gotten on a plane with her husband and left her four kids at home. Literally, my biggest fear. 
But, as all great writers do, Stephanie Nielson had me hooked with the first sentence. So I kept reading. I couldn’t put it down until I knew that she would be okay. I realize since it’s a memoir, and she actually wrote it, that she is alive and well today, but I had to hear it from her. Life has been crazy since we returned from our trip, so I just got a chance to read the Epilogue, and I think she has convinced me to take my book in a different direction. 
My story, a seemingly perfect life as a wife, mother, and pharmacist turned up side down by grand-mal seizures and depression, my desperate search to cure myself, and ultimate realization that God is the ultimate healer, is a book in itself.

And it was originally what I’d planned to write.

As you know, prescription drug addiction plowed uninvited into my life and turned a snowstorm into an avalanche. God had to really work on me a while on the whole “transparency” thing for me to be able to make addiction part of my story. Some of my closest friends didn’t know I was dealing with addiction until recently. And I don’t know if I’ll ever work as a pharmacist again. What pharmacy would hire me?

But God didn’t tell me to worry about my future. He told me to be transparent right now. 
In writing about addiction, I thought my job was to draw people in with my story and finish the book with the miracle God gave me. I hoped to appeal to a secular audience, so I have not written much about God’s part in my life before he healed me in 2010. But God has always been a huge part of my life, even though I didn’t realize it. He has always pursued me; I just had not always pursued Him back. My life was perfect. 

It’s hard to realize that you need God when everything is hunky-dory. 
In Heaven is Here, Stephanie tells of her life before her accident, during her immediate recovery in the hospital, and life after she returned home. God was a part of Stephanie’s whole story, and through the heart changes He walked through with her, her relationship with Him was deepened to a whole new level. 
So in my book—and my blog—I hope to share on a more personal level. It’s easy to share the lessons I learned on this journey, and I will continue to do so. But I hope to share more of myself with you. 
I think Satan loves to get in our heads and tell us,” People don’t really care about that. Why do they want to know about you? You’re not famous, just an everyday person. People will just laugh at you.” 
Stephanie Nielson was just an everyday person who had to overcome extraordinary circumstances. She writes that she never would have survived without God. I’ve never had to survive a plane crash (thank goodness), but I learned so much from her journey…only because I got to know her personally through her book. If I’d simply read a newspaper article highlighting the details of her accident and recovery, I’d have learned nothing of her heart and her relationship with God. And it was God that saved her…completely. 
Prescription drug addiction is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States. In 2010, enough painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for an entire month. Although most prescriptions are deemed necessary for medical use, many end up in the hands of people who misuse or abuse them. In 2010, about 12 million Americans over the age of twelve reported nonmedical use of prescription painkillers in the past year.
There are a plethora of self-help books out there on addiction. There are tons of memoirs about drug abuse—mostly by famous people addicted to illegal drugs. But prescription drugs are legal. Prescribed by doctors every day. To Christians who would never dream of misusing or abusing prescription drugs. Until they are addicted, that is. 
It won’t be pleasant digging up emotions that I’d really rather leave in the past or the constant struggle going on in my brain the entire time I struggled with addiction. But I want people to be able to read what I write and know me—like I know Stephanie now.

It will be hard to write; but today, I’m writing this post. 

Tomorrow will take care of itself.


From my heart,

Celeste

Filed Under: Fighting Your Fears, Living in Faith, Living with Purpose, Making Changes, Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Stretch Your Way to Happy

28 April, 2012 by 15 Comments

When Marlee was just a toddler, she would stretch endlessly. When I would go to get her up in the mornings, she would stall saying, “Hang on, I’m not finished stretching yet.” And she would stretch to one side, then the other, procrastinating because she didn’t want to get out of bed. 


But she always got up in the best of moods! 


Stretching does so much for our mind and body. When I get up in the morning, I try to take lessons from Marlee and stretch for a minute. I’m immediately energized and awake. At night, if I can’t sleep, I stretch my arms and legs as far as I can, hold the stretch, and then relax every muscle in my body. 
There is something that happens when I do this that feels like peace washing over me…which is why I picked the prescription verse above. 


I’d like to think that I’ve had the peace of God many times in my life, but nothing like I felt when He healed me in 2010 of seizures, depression, and addiction. I was in the car listening to a song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean called Mercy Came Running, being totally thankful for the mercy that God showed me when He chose to heal me, and I literally felt peace wash down over me, starting at the top of my head, running down my hair and face, then over my shoulders—kind of like the green slime kids get poured over them on Nickelodeon, only not so gooey! 😉


When we stretch out our muscles, we release endorphins in our brains that give us a peace of sorts…a sense of well-being and calmness. Maybe not as good as God’s peace washing over you, but he did create the hormones in our brain, so in a sense, it is His peace! 


Here are a few other ways stretching is good for you: 

  • Stretching relieves your body of stress, therefore decreasing your cortisol levels and increasing your serotonin levels.
  • Stretching helps put your muscles in a more relaxed state, therefore helping you sleep better.
  • When you stretch, you are focused on your muscles…contracting and relaxing them with a regulated breathing pattern, which also increases serotonin.
  • Stretching increases blood flow in your body, therefore reducing the stress on any particular system in your body (cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous system).

So the tip to a happier you for today is simple—stretch. If you read Monday’s post, and you have your post-it note up to remind you to say your “trust” prayer, just use it to remind you to stretch too. Again, it only takes a few minutes and what do you have to lose? 

From my heart, 
Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, How to be Happy, Overcoming Addiction, Physical Wellness, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Your Handiwork

9 January, 2012 by 1 Comment

Has anyone tried Laughter Aerobics, my first tip to a happier you? (Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Laughter Aerobics) Well, here’s my next tip to a happier you: 

Work with your hands…“Handiwork.”
I realize this really doesn’t make much sense, but it is another thing we can do that will naturally increase the serotonin in our brain. When we do repetitive, coordinating movement with our hands, the amount of serotonin in our brain will increase. The ideas are limitless–scrap booking, knitting, origami, playing guitar, pottery, jewelry making, carpentry–after all, Jesus was a carpenter.
Here’s why: 

Handiwork increases contentment~When you are working with your hands doing something that requires a little thought (but not stressful thought), your mind doesn’t have time to worry about the past or the future, but instead settles on the thoughts of the moment you are in helping you be content. 
Handiwork decreases pain~As a pharmacist, I’ve seen patient after patient who suffers from depression also be diagnosed with fibromyalgia. When serotonin is low, your threshold to pain is low. Any repetitive movement you do with your hands has been shown to directly increase the levels of serotonin in your brain, not only increasing your mood, but also increasing your threshold to pain. Also, pain is perceived in your brain. Your brain cannot concentrate on two things at the same time, so when you’re concentrating on what you’re doing with your hands, your brain literally cannot interpret pain signals and your pain will decrease. 
Handiwork may help overcome addiction~Have you ever known someone who has a knitting or crochet project in their hands every time they sit down to relax–every time their mind might be idle? Often these hobbies like knitting, crochet, or cross-stitching become addictive. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Through research (and through my own learned personal experiences) it has been found that the tendency toward addiction has a genetic component. Being “addicted” to knitting may work to keep another addiction from surfacing. And in turn, addiction to knitting might help someone overcome another addiction by keeping that idle mind occupied so whatever addiction is will not be at the forefront of his or her mind. 
Handiwork increases productivity~Someone who is depressed typically lives in a hopeless state. They have a hard time setting goals, because they truly cannot motivate themselves enough to accomplish them. They feel unproductive and worthless. Picking up and easy “handiwork” hobby like knitting can be such an easy thing to do to begin to transform a depressed mind into one that wants to learn, set goals, and even do something for someone else. When I was so sick, in and out of the hospital, someone knitted me a prayer blanket. As she made the blanket, she prayed over it, blessing her and me both! 
Handiwork helps you relax~Remember I taught you about the hormone, cortisol, in the Laughter Aerobics Post? Well, it comes into play here as well. When you work with your hands in any movement that is repetitive and requires a little coordination, it causes relaxation and your cortisol level decreases, therefore allowing your serotonin levels to increase, therefore creating a happier you! 



Get those hands busy!


From my heart,

Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Handling Stress, How to be Happy, Making Changes, Overcoming Addiction, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , ,

Falling into the trap of addiction

2 December, 2011 by Leave a Comment





If you follow my blog, you know I haven’t been posting as much recently. I’m getting serious about my book, which I’ve been devoting more time to, so today I’m giving you an excerpt. If there were one part of my story I could forget, the narcotic addiction would be it. It took me a long time to include this in my book, but God has called me to be transparent. I love the verse I chose for today’s prescription. I’m taking the shame of my past, which is erased in God’s eyes, and using it to share his truths.
The world we live in revolves around pills. Whether addiction occurs from taking pain medication from an injury or from sheer curiosity, the addiction potential is the same. Drugs do not care who you are, what you do, where you live, how much money you make, or whether or not you’re a Christian. Too many people are blissfully unaware how narcotics work and how dangerous they can be. It seems ridiculous to me that I let myself become addicted because I’m a pharmacist. But I wouldn’t trade anything for the understanding I have now. Addiction is truly a phenomenon you cannot understand until you’ve been there. I certainly would have never imagined it could happen to me. 
I hope you enjoy this tidbit of my story. 
My first seizure, though unnerving, did not leave me with any physical harm done to my body. I wasn’t so fortunate this second time around. In the emergency room, I was told I had a broken nose. My first glance in the mirror confirmed it. My head was killing me and my body hurt all over. When I fell this time, I was standing in the middle of the pharmacy, and I went down sideways into the “P” section of the pharmacy shelves. Apparently I wiped out the Premarin, Provera, and Prozac sections to say the least. My head hit first, and my nose caught one of the shelves at just the right angle to make it good and whop-sided. With my head as the lead Lego, knocking down the lower shelves, my body followed crashing to the hard, tile floor. I’m thankful my brain didn’t remember the scene, but my body sure did. I have to be honest here. I’m a wimp. I don’t like pain, I’ve never liked pain, and I do not tolerate it well. The emergency room doctor sent me home with prescriptions for Depakote (for seizures) and Lortab (for pain), a list of  “do’s and don’ts” for seizure patients, and a referral to an ear, nose and throat surgeon for my crooked nose. And so my recovery began.
The soreness slowly dissipated from my muscles, and the bruises on my body faded away. The bruises on my soul, however, were growing. The ear, nose, and throat specialist informed me that sinus surgery was in my near future if I wanted to ever use my nose for breathing again. Breathing through my nose. Hmmmm. Sounds rather necessary. Sinus surgery it was.
In pharmacy school, I was able to sit through four surgical procedures during my clinical rotations. One of those surgeries just so happened to be a rhinoplasty—a nose job. It wasn’t long into that surgery that I completely understood why people are so black and blue after a nose reconstruction. You’d have thought the surgeons were working with Play-doh or clay, not an actual human face. I was mortified to watch as the doctor cut inside the nostrils with a scalpel, and with his equivalent of tweezers, pulled cartilage out. Then they proceeded to mash, tug, squeeze, push, and squish this man’s nose until they had molded it into the shape they wanted. I wasn’t getting a nose job per say, but the surgery is essentially the same to fix a broken, crooked nose.
Between the emergency room and visits to my neurologist, and visits and surgeon, it took about two months for me to come to the end of this nasal nightmare. Lortab, a narcotic pain medication, had become my friend to get through those months, especially during my recovery from the surgery. It was not pleasant to have my sinuses packed with gauze attached to small tongue depressors hanging out of my nose for a week. Remember what a great pain tolerance I have? When the packing was finally pulled from my nostrils, which felt like ropes being pulled from my brain, my nasal nightmare was over. Or so I thought. For the most part, my pain was gone, so I stopped taking the Lortab. I could have never guessed what was coming next. 
Watch for my next post to get a unique perspective on drug addiction. Understand the truth about the dangers of addiction so you can prevent those you love from falling into the trap. Addiction is very hard to overcome. In some cases, prevention is the only cure. 
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Filed Under: Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: ,

Smart Parenting: Don’t wait til it’s too late!

8 November, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Parenting. Whew! It’s a hard job these days! As if it’s not hard enough worrying about helping them with the basics like homework, friends, and dating, now we have to worry about the drugs that are rampant in our society today. Many people don’t realize how dangerous drugs are. These drugs are deadly–Crack, cocaine, Oxycontin, heroin, and now bath salts! Some of these drugs are addictive the very first time they are used, and then it may be too late. The very best method is prevention. But what if that doesn’t work? 
Will you know the signs? 
Will you admit that your child may be using drugs you or will you be in denial, hoping it will go away? 
Will you confront them?
Will you be too embarrassed to get them the help they need? 
Will you become an enabler because you’re afraid they will come to hate you?
Satan uses drugs to get a stronghold on our youth of today. Anita Estes has a new book available, Letters to God on a Prodigal Son:Overcoming Addiction Through Prayer in which she shares the story of her son’s drug addiction, the signs that she recognized, and her prayers to help him overcome it. 
If you have a child, whether you suspect drug use or not, you need to read this book. I know too many parents who realize what’s going on too late. Just as we try to arm our children for the world we live in, we need to arm ourselves with the tools we need to parent them. This book is an essential tool. If you purchase it on November 8th, you can even get some free gifts! Here’s the link…
Be armed and ready! 
From my heart,

Celeste
Filed Under: Overcoming Addiction, Parenting Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Help, I’m in pain!

14 October, 2011 by 3 Comments
     Have you ever seen a house that was taken over by stray cats? It all starts with just one stray cat. You feed it. It has kittens. You feed them. They have kittens, and so on and so on and so on. You end up with around 50 cats living in, under, and around your house, waiting to be fed. You get more food because you are feeding more cats. It becomes an out of control situation. What happens if you don’t feed them? They come to the door, to your feet, and pester you to death until you until you do! They get on your nerves, they might even get mean, and scratch or bite you.
     This is an analogy to help understand what happens to our brain when we take narcotics for pain like Lortab, Vicodin, or Oxycodone. Our brains have receptors that tell us when we are in pain. For the sake of explanation, lets say we normally have 10 receptors. Drugs in the narcotic class are the only drugs that truly block those receptors to relieve pain. Narcotics taken for short periods of time are typically not a problem. But when we keep feeding narcotics to those receptors, they begin to multiply like stray cats. Where we once had 10 receptors that perceive pain, we now have 100, or 500, or 1000. So what do we do? We have to feed them more. They continue to multiply. What happens if we take that narcotic away? Those receptors attack more ferociously that any amount of cats ever could. This is physical addiction. Narcotics will actually change the chemistry of our brains.
     When I began having migraines and seizures, I was prescribed a narcotic to use when the pain could not be controlled any other way. I took it off and on as needed, only it seemed like I needed it more and more often. My pain tolerance got lower and lower. When I ended up taking Lortab for two months after a seizure, broken nose, and sinus surgery, I couldn’t go off of it without throwing up constantly. My receptors were out of control. At this point, any tolerance I had at all completely disappeared. I struggled as my brain and body screamed for relief. 
     When God healed me and I became free from all medication, a floodlight came on in my brain. I looked back over my journey and realized something about pain I’d never realized before. When I began using pain medicine off and on to relieve migraines, my headaches intensified. Then when I began taking it even more often, the headaches were unbearable. The increased receptors in my brain were causing my perception of pain to be worse. Now that I have been off all medication for over a year, the migraines that once sent me to a dark room in tears are now just headaches. They are unpleasant and aggravating, but they no longer stop me in my tracks. 
     True, full-blown addiction typically requires help. It’s a tough battle to win, but with God, nothing is impossible. My focus here is on the millions of people every day who take just one Lortab at bedtime to be able to sleep, or just one Oxycontin in the morning to allow them to be able to work. Taking small maintenance doses of a narcotic increases pain receptors just enough to increase pain perception. We may think it’s the pain that is worsening when it might just be the perception of pain is higher because of the receptors. 
     God created those pain receptors in our brain–just the right amount–because we need to perceive pain to know when something is wrong. He made us in His image. He didn’t intend for those receptors to torture us, but when we feed them too often, they grow. And grow and grow and grow.  If you are taking a low maintenance dose of a narcotic, you probably perceive your pain to be worse than it really is. If you can stop taking it long enough for your brain to get back to normal, I bet you’d realize the pain isn’t nearly as bad as it once was. Give it a try if you can. Believe me, I never thought I’d see the day that a migraine headache didn’t send me screaming to a dark, quiet room for the duration.
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Filed Under: Managing Prescription Drugs, Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: , , ,

Mustard Seed Miracles~My One Year Anniversary

25 September, 2011 by 1 Comment

Today required two prescriptions. The thing is, they seem to interact with one another. As a pharmacist, I always do my best to warn patients about interactions between their prescriptions, but this interaction is a tough one. You see, one year ago today, God healed me completely from migraine headaches, grand mal seizures, and severe depression. He healed me from the addiction of constantly chasing anything and everything for a cure. He showed me that even though Satan had a hold of my brain, he (God) was stronger…I only had to allow him to be. That’s where the interaction comes in…


Matthew 17:20 instructs us to have faith just as much as a grain of mustard seed, and we can move mountains. Yet John 4:48 tells us, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” How can those two exist at the same time? Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is believing in the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Yet unless we see we won’t believe? So how do we get that mustard seed of faith?

For the seven years I suffered, prayed, and pleaded with God for an answer, but I was really depending on myself, on science, or on whatever else came my way. I jumped on every bandwagon that passed by with both feet, only to have my feet swept out from under me again…literally. The grand mal seizures took care of that. I was a Christian. I was saved. I fully believed that if I died I would go to Heaven. So why did I rely on science, nutrition, acupuncture, ‘hocus pocus,’ or whatever to fix me?

‘Faith the size of a mustard seed’…wow. ‘Unless you see you will not believe’…hmmm. God divinely inspired those who wrote the books of the Bible. They wrote about what they saw, and there are so many miracles in the Bible. But they happened such a long time ago. What about now?

I believe miracles happen every day. I think that we all know someone who says they have experienced a miracle, and I believe they have. They just didn’t happen to be divinely inspired by God to write in what would be the greatest book ever written.

I’d like to think that I had faith as much as a grain of mustard seed, but it sure was a long seven years to grow that mustard seed! I knew of miracles in the Bible that I learned growing up, but somehow, since these were recorded in the Bible, they must have been more “miraculous” than the miracles I’ve heard in my lifetime. They weren’t. They just happen to be the ones that are recorded in the Bible. We see those “signs and wonders” every day. So why do we not believe? Or if we say we believe, do we really, truly, down deep believe? I think that’s the “interaction” I experienced between these two prescription verses most of my life. I believed in my head, I just don’t think I believed in my heart. I “knew” Jesus in my head, but I didn’t “feel” him in my heart, at least no to the extent he wanted me to.

So today, being the one-year anniversary of my very own miracle, I can tell you 100% for sure that miracles do happen. The change in me that happened from going to bed on Friday night September 24th to Saturday morning, September 25th, was nothing short of a miracle. I knew it. I felt it. I felt Jesus deep inside me, more than I could even imagine was possible. My family, who had to live with me every day for those seven years, will be the first to tell you it was nothing short of a miracle! (My hubby says it was his miracle, not mine =o)

I wish I had a prescription to give out for a miracle. Wouldn’t that be easy? But I don’t, at least not exactly. I certainly could never compare myself to those God appointed to record what is written in they bible, but I am working hard to learn to write for him. I pray that those who may not have seen quite enough ‘signs and wonders’ to have the ‘faith of a grain of mustard seed’ might gain a little more faith in the wonder-fullness of my miracle.

Thank you Jesus!
From my heart,

Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Freedom in Christ, Miracles Do Happen, Overcoming Addiction, The Power of Prayer, Your Relationship with God Tagged With: , ,

Dr. God

7 September, 2011 by 1 Comment
 


     We have always heard God referred to as “father,” but how often do we really think of him as our father? Our daddy? It’s hard because he is not tangible. We cannot touch or hug him. But when he created us, he gave us the ability to have faith. We just have to tap into it. With faith, we can use our imagination to imagine him sitting on the sofa with us talking; sitting at the kitchen table while we do read our Bible; wrapping his arms around us when we are hurting. All we have to do is take the step to go there.
     Now let’s take it a step further. God is our father, and he wants us to talk to him and get to know him just as we would our earthly father. But he is also the great physician. Our great physician. So why do we rely so heavily on doctors and medicine to help us? I’ve quoted this before, but it definitely bears repeating:
     “If God’s aim is to grant perfect health to all his children, he has failed, because no one enjoys perfect health, and everyone dies. But if God’s aim is to expand the boundaries of his kingdom, then he has succeeded. For every time he heals, a thousand sermons are preached.”~Max Lucado
     When I had my first seizure, it was a total shock. It came completely out of nowhere. Here was my thought process: “What in the world happened to my brain and why? How am I possibly going to keep from driving for 6 months with three kids? Well, maybe somehow this is God’s way of protecting me from an accident or something.” Then, after a few months I thought, “You know, David and I have gotten to spend much more time together since I haven’t been able to drive. It’s really been good for us.” I was looking for what God was teaching me. But then, after I had the second seizure when I broke my nose and ended up with sinus surgery, my focus shifted. Rather than rely on God and look for what he was teaching me, I began to try to figure out how I could fix myself. The ‘sciency’ pharmacist in me began to search for a cure. That’s when the snowball turned into an avalanche, and for seven years I was lost…searching…in all the wrong places. 
     As a child, we need our daddy to “make me feel better.” As adults, whether our dads are still with us or not, we must rely on our heavenly father to make us feel better. Well, God is not only our father, but also the great physician. We can rely on him for comfort in times of need, but we can also rely on him for healing. He WILL heal us if we accept, love, and get to know him personally. But here’s the catch: God has so much good stuff in store for us, but it may not be here on this earth. He has perfect health for us, but it may not be here on this earth. We will have to endure tough stuff while we live in this world. He tells us in John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. He will heal us, but it may be through death and entrance into heaven. 
      We think of our lifetime as lasting forever, because our human brains cannot comprehend eternity. But in reality, the span of time we spend here on earth is like a drop in the ocean compared to eternity. The sooner we can focus on the bigger picture, accept what we have here do what God wants us to with it, the sooner we can find peace, contentment, and happiness in our life here because we know it’s in preparation for bigger things to come. I’m not saying to just accept bad things as your fate in life…we just can’t have a victim mentality. I’m just saying if we take what God has given us, and look for ways to use our life for him, we will find peace and will be rewarded abundantly. 
      So let’s rely on God, our heavenly father, our great physician, to lead and guide us through whatever we are going through. Use his words to find comfort and healing. Imagine his loving arms around you and his peace flowing over you. I have Marlee imagine Jesus wrapping his arms around her every night when she is in bed saying her prayers. Please don’t roll your eyes…I know, it might seem silly to some. But if you can just do what he says when he tells us to “Be still and know that I am God,” the intangible will actually become tangible…real. If you are still enough and quiet enough, you can feel him. 
     “Be still…”
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Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Chronic Illness, God's Pharmacy, Living in Faith, Overcoming Addiction, Your Relationship with God Tagged With: , ,

America on Drugs

4 August, 2011 by 3 Comments

Bear with me here guys, this is a long post, and this comes from years of being a pharmacist and the personal experience of being a patient…but for anyone on an antidepressant or other “brain” drug, you need to read this:


Your Brain on Drugs…no, I won’t be showing you a picture of a fried egg, though I must say it’s a great analogy! We know street drugs fry your brain, that’s a no-brainer! (Sorry =o)
I’m talking about prescription drugs…and not just the “controlled” ones. I’m talking about all of the psychotropic drugs prescribed in the United States today. As a pharmacist, it has made me crazy to see this huge increase in my years in this industry. As a patient, I fell right into the trap. Let me give you just a few statistics from reputable sources to put it in perspective for you…


A study was done by the American Medical Association from 1988 to 1994, during which time the visits to a physician for depression increased from 10.99 million in 1988 to 20.43 million in 1994. Visits for stimulant drugs increased from .57 million to 2.86 million. In a much more recent study, the Centers for Disease Control the percentage of people who use five or more prescriptions drugs increased by 70% in the last 10 years. It’s obvious to me that this increase is largely due to the increase in psychotropic prescription visits. 


Our society is in danger. Real danger. Christians and non-Christians alike. Many physicians  are prescribing narcotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and other miscellaneous psychotropic drugs like candy, and do not realize the true danger they are putting their patients in. Different doctors and different pharmacies lead the way to missed information and drug interactions. Doctors cannot possibly keep up with all of the drug interactions possible between the thousands of prescription drugs on the market today. Even as a pharmacist, I ended up with a potentially life threatening drug interaction that my doctor(s) and pharmacist missed. I had not been working in pharmacy during the time Cymbalta was approved and put on pharmacy shelves, and due to an interaction with my migraine prescription medication, I ended up in a state for 24 hours where I did not know what was real and what wasn’t. I didn’t know if this world was real, or if I was dead or alive. At one point, I did not know David was my husband. Marlee was laying next to me in the bed and I actually asked David if she was dead. It was the scariest night of my entire life. I know this sounds crazy, and even when I was in the midst of it I felt sure that I would wake up in a straight jacket staring at four white walls!  


When my reality began to become more clear, due to my pharmacy training I knew what happened. I immediately began researching the medications I had taken, and quickly discovered I’d experienced serotonin syndrome. Now I must say should have known the possibility of this interaction, but in this case, my brain was, well, sick. Seizures, migraine, depression, and medication did not leave me in the mind to catch these things…my doctor and pharmacist should have caught it. I know that when my prescription was filled, the pharmacist was required to manually override a drug interaction possibility, which means they just overrode it by habit, without really looking, or just neglected to mention it. Last summer,in a total of approximately eight days working as a relief pharmacist, I called doctors on four separate occasions to warn them of this exact same interaction. All four times the prescriptions were changed. 


This incident is just one of millions that happen daily. While there are definitely patients that require psychotropic drug therapy, these drugs are widely overused. I’m not sure why doctors feel so much more comfortable prescribing these drugs now than in the past, but where therapy was once first course of treatment, doctors now tend to give the drug first, to “dial things down” before therapy is started. Once the patient gets the prescription, they do not want to follow up with expensive therapy. Our society of immediate gratification and prescription drug advertising on every venue possible lead us to the “quick fix.” After all, “Depression Hurts, Cymbalta can help.” Right? 


Due to the depression I experienced during my years of seizures, my doctors kept trying to get me to take an antidepressant. I finally conceded and began taking Cymbalta. If I wasn’t miserable before, I sure was then! After about a month on the Cymbalta, I felt horrible and was still depressed, so I decided I would wean off of it. Ha! Now that was a joke. The “non-addictive, harmless” antidepressant was everything but. I know you have all seen the commercial for Cymbalta, but in my research I stumbled across a youtube video that really makes the point.  It is a little on the extreme side, but only a little. 


Depression hurts, Cymbalta hurts more


Before I conclude, let me just say this…there is certainly a need and a place for antidepressants. We have just come to rely on the quick fix of drugs way too much. If you happen to be on Cymbalta and doing well, Yay! For me, many of the side effects of Cymbalta were front and center. As patients, we have just become too trusting:


First,we trust our doctors to know everything we need to know. No one can know everything. 


Second, we expect our pharmacists not to be too busy to counsel us every aspect of the drug, but they can’t control the 15 people waiting on prescriptions at once (and I can assure you, the chain pharmacies push the limit on the number of prescriptions allowed per pharmacist), nor can they control the hurry we are in to get out of the pharmacy.


Third, we trust the FDA not to put anything on the market that could harm us. It is sad we cannot depend on our government to keep our best interests at heart, but unfortunately, the almighty dollar often takes priority.


And yet, we are not trusting enough in God. We don’t believe and trust that God is all that we need. I know I used the verse on this prescription in another post, but it says so much. When God created the earth, and created man to inhabit the earth, he gave us everything we’d ever need. With so much emphasis placed on the synthetic psychotropic drugs available today, we lose our focus. We need to think simply and eternally at the same time. More talking, more prayer, more God. Put God at the head of your medical team, and let him lead you in the very best way to restore your mind…for eternity. 


From my heart, 
Celeste

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Filed Under: Beating Depression, God's Pharmacy, Living in Faith, Managing Prescription Drugs, Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

God’s Pharmacy

27 July, 2011 by 4 Comments

When God created the earth, it was good. So when he created man, we had everything we would ever need. Between the resources he gave us and the brain he equipped us with, mankind was all set. Until…


Sin. 


Everything on this earth was created from, well, this earth. We started out with what God gave us, and that is all we have ever had. All resources we have ever needed were given to us when God created this earth. 


Normally if I hear anyone speak of this verse, it’s in relation to nutrition, food choices, or a vegetarian diet. I’m going a little deeper. In pharmacy school, I learned about the origin of all pharmaceuticals. What  would you imagine it is? If God created everything on this earth, then things on this earth were all we had to work with. Between the use of our brains and the resources God gave us, our “pharmacy” was created. There actually use to be a class in pharmacy school called  “Pharmacognosy,” which is the study of medicines derived from natural resources, but most school have eliminated that class because we have manipulated drugs so much that the “natural” part of the drug is basically obscure. 


In the development of drugs over the years, scientists have discovered amazing chemicals  vital to survival. The problem is, however, the more we learned about what our brain can do and what chemicals can do, the farther we have strayed from the pharmacy God created for us. Sometimes knowledge is power, sometimes it’s dangerous. Depends on what you do with it. Ever been told that you know too much for your own good? 


Take the coca plant for instance. It is a plant that God created that is now used in manufacturing cocaine. Someone, sometime, somewhere, realized the effect the coca plant can have on your brain if altered a certain way. We have many chemicals in our brain God gave us to help us live as he desired, in his image. Seratonin and dopamine are well known from the knowledge of the popular antidepressants so widely dispensed today (Prozac,  Zoloft, Cymbalta, etc…). The manipulation of these chemicals with synthetically altered resources has landed our society in the mess it is today with extremely addictive, dangerous, and illegal drugs.


I have added two links here you should check out…both from reputable sources.


The first is a fact sheet on commonly abused drugs, where they came from and how they work, published by the American Council on Drug Education. You might be surprised by some of this information…Fact Sheets on Drugs.


The second is a video by National Geographic on “meth”, and how it actually works in your brain. I know you will be surprised by some of this info. Here’s the link…The science behind your brain on drugs.


This information is important. This immediate gratification, computer generation we’re in is moving too fast. Kids are hooked on drugs before they can even realize what they are. Drugs are being used more and more casually, and if we don’t educate ourselves and our kids, it will be too late. I thank God every day that when I had a hard time getting off Lortab after  sinus surgery, that I was educated at least enough to recognize it, and do what I needed to break free from it. Someone in the same situation without the knowledge of how it happened and what to do will often turn to the street to get what they need. As parents, it is imperative that we learn. Don’t be the parents that think, “my kid would never do that, he’s too smart,” or “that kind of stuff doesn’t happen in our school around here.” I’m telling you it does. It’s everywhere. And don’t think for a minute that your child is the only one at risk. Adults are at the same risk, if not more. How do you beat drug addiction? 


Education and prevention. Once the addiction has found it’s home, it’s an overwhelming beast to overcome.


I’m going to leave it at this for now. There is so much more to be said, and I will discuss it more in future blog posts. But the main point today is this…


God created us in his image. He gave us everything we should ever need. If we have God working in our hearts, and let our brains function as he created, we will never have the need to seek out “alternative” methods to escape our reality. 


…as I gave you the green plants, I gave you everything. 


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Filed Under: Brain Functions, God's Pharmacy, Managing Prescription Drugs, Overcoming Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , ,