Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Before and After

I have a fascination with seeing before and after results. The more drastic the difference, the more enjoyment it seems to bring me. I discovered this as a small child when my mother taught me how to clean the bathroom. She showed me how to clean the sink fixture with an old toothbrush, how to scrub the bathtub until it was white, and generally how to make the bathroom shine. From that time onward I took pride in cleaning the bathroom. To this day I especially like to clean it when it was really dirty just so I can see the difference when it is clean. (Just ask my roommates, lol!)

A new “before and after” that I have been enjoying in the last month has been working in patient care at Uchee Pines Institute. I am enrolled in the Lifestyle Counselor course here, where large portions of the coursework consist of working directly with the guests who come to the Lifestyle center. Since a month ago, we have been working with patients instead of having classes all day. Yay!

Uchee Pines runs 17-day sessions where patients suffering from cancer, diabetes, lupus, MS, obesity, and all other serious or chronic illnesses come to the lifestyle center for natural treatment and an education on how to change their lifestyle to promote healing. At the beginning of the session, a lifestyle counselor (LC) is assigned to the patient as a kind of personal nurse to take care of them during the time they are here. As an LC, I work together with the doctors, providing assistance in the diagnosis and treatment of my patient(s). This means attending doctors appointments with them, taking pulse, blood pressure, and blood glucose; drawing their blood, doing urinalysis, giving massages, fever treatments, designing diet plans, making herbal teas, and sometimes just spending time with the person talking and praying with them. Every day I chart their progress and every day I literally see improvement.

This last session has just ended and I’ve been reflecting on the progress and improvements I saw during the last 2 1/2 weeks that I spent with my patient. This dear woman had been to dozens of doctors and specialists through the course of 20 yrs without finding any real diagnosis or proper treatment for her problems. So she finally comes down to a little place way out in Alabama that treats people with water, herbs, and fruits/vegetables. And the doctors found out exactly what was causing her problems and how to treat them. Every day was like watching a wilted, drooping sunflower revive and come back into full bloom. By today, every golden petal was out and the sunflower was turned toward the sun. She was SO much better! I felt so privileged to be her LC and to have a part in helping her. [I am continually amazed at how simple remedies combined with the power of the Master Healer bring about miraculous results. To God be the glory!]

You know, I’ve discovered that God loves seeing the "before and after” too. Look at the verses I found:

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Luke 15:7

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

God delights in taking poor, wicked wretches and making them into His treasures. He loves to take out our blackened, stony hearts and replace them with tender, love-and-truth-filled hearts.

I find that cooperation with God always brings about spectacular “before and after” results. I’ve found it true in my own personal life. I’ve found it true as I work together with God for the salvation of others. And I believe with all my heart that in the very near future, God will take our filthy, old, sinful world and replace it with one that cannot even compare in beauty and wonder. I can’t wait!

My question for you my friends is: are you letting God accomplish the “before and after” results in your life? Are you trusting Him and believing His Word? Are you letting Him have His way in your heart?

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