Recently I had something called Bells Palsy. Apparently they don't yet understand why people get this disease. However, they think that it may be related to a virus. I am sure that there are lots of people that don't know about this disease. I didn't until I got it. I will explain it to you through my story.
I was at church on Sunday. I was outside watching my brother get baptized. The sun was shinning and I was squinting to see properly. My eyes started to water heavily. I thought this was due to the sun hurting my eyes. The left side of my face started to tighten up. By the time the service was over I couldn't smile or close my left eye. The only places I could go to the doctor on Sunday were the emergency room and Sisters of Mercy urgent care. But we were also on a budget with no money for emergencies, ( A fact I have now fixed.) So I didn't go to the doctor. Sunday night I didn't sleep much because my eye watered and I kept having to blow my nose. The need to blow my nose made me think this was some sort of allergy thing or that I had some sort of infection. Monday at lunch it was so bad I could no longer talk right. I couldn't eat. I couldn't chew. Food fell out of my mouth. I couldn't drink without a straw. My mouth was pulling to the right. I looked like I had a stroke. I didn't have a primary doctor. So I was left with Sisters of Mercy. It was $125 to be seen. We had to cash an old savings bond to get the money. I brought my husband because I was so scared at this point.
The doctor was sure of what I had but confused as to why I had it. She said it was very rare and she had not seen a case in years. She gave me an anti-viral medicine and something else. I was given a pirate patch and gauze to cover my eye at night. The meds were $8 at Wal-mart. She said that it could take weeks or months to get better. She said that some people recover fully. Others had lingering issues. They have no clue why there is such a difference in recovery quality and time frames.
That night I had to make a decision. I was going to live in fear and wonder if I would get better or I would decide to be positive. My friends helped a lot. They sent prayers and encouragement. They sent me scriptures on healing. I thought about it a lot. I decided that one of the greatest gifts that God had given me was words. I have always been a writer and a reader. I am very good at reading things out loud. At work they say I should be one of the people that reads ads or audio books. My dream is to learn multiple Asian languages and to somehow use that to help people. I feel that God is leading me to do something with my talent for words. So how could it be that God meant for me to have something screw up my mouth?! I decided to reject that thought! I decided that I would speak every day, "Thank you God for healing my face!" Four weeks later my mouth was a lot better! Two weeks after that my eye was closing!
The doctors could not believe how fast and well I was healing. My friends and co-workers all asked me how I was able to heal so quickly. Suddenly everyone knew someone who had Bells Palsy! They all said the person they knew took forever to heal or didn't get all the way better. I told them all that it was not me. It was God and that all I had done was have faith in him! In this blog I have told you that your words have power. Today I am telling you why I believe that is true.
I learned something really important from this experience. When I was thinking about what I could lose if I kept symptoms, I realized how much my dreams meant to me. I realized I couldn't waste time and needed to get started moving towards achieving my dreams! I hope that you guys will be able to learn from my story!
