Daniel's Deliverance and Stephen's Stoning - The Prosperity Gospel in Africa and God's Sovereignty in Suffering

We all like to hear stories with 'happy' endings.

When sin came into the world, it destroyed the happy ending.  On an earth level there is no happy ending anymore.

Yet we still desire it.  We know that the damage sin causes isn't 'right' or 'good'.  We long for something more.....and we give eternal praise to our loving Creator who made a way for a 'happy ending' to be returned.  But its not the happy ending of an 'earthly' definition and level - its one far greater and one that enables us to get through the story until then.  

One day there will be a 'happy ending' to surpass all happy endings when our sorrows and suffering will be replaced by joy and peace in the presence of our Saviour in the house of our Father.

But until then, happy endings on an earthly scale are not promised to us.  This earth is under the curse of the fall.  Our world is not perfect.

Unfortunately many churches like to promote the idea that if you come to Christ, everything will go well from then on - no sickness, disability, suffering, poverty etc etc.  Across Africa the Prosperity Gospel has promoted the idea that Christians get immunity not only from eternal suffering, but from present suffering.

But even if we are not part of a Prosperity Gospel context, it is easy to still focus on God's power as being primarily related to our physical life and positive outcomes on this earth.  We 'rejoice' when a disabled child 'beats the odds' and God intervenes in such a way that all the doctor's predictions of disaster don't come to pass. - a Daniel-type Deliverance.  We rejoice when a person gets the news that their cancer is in remission. We rejoice when a long awaited baby is born.  And there is nothing wrong with rejoicing in these circumstances - there would be something wrong if we didn't.

But we have to also be careful that we don't give the impression that God is good and God is answering prayer more when we get 'Daniel Deliverances' than when we see Stephen Stonings.  

We must not simply equate God with the circumstances we see.  

God can use circumstances we see to show His goodness, but God's goodness is far greater than the circumstances we see.  

As human beings living in the circumstances, this is very hard for us to take in at times.  

Circumstances can seem overwhelming.  

But if we focus on what we determine in our wisdom is a 'good' outcome, we run the danger of not doing 'good' to those God wants His 'goodness' to be shared with.  We can overlook those who are discouraged and suffering who need to be reminded and encouraged with the goodness of God's eternal loving purposes even though they are not seeing any 'Daniel Deliverances' in their life.

A few years back a 'Daniel Deliverance' situation occurred in the church we attended - a baby was born and the birth was a 'mess' to say the least.  It would be a miracle if the baby survived but the prognosis wasn't good.  He lived.  Not only did he live but apart from needing spectacles early on, there is hardly anything to suggest he had such a traumatic start to life.  Everyone rejoiced. His mum wrote a book sharing how good God was as He answered their prayers.

Yes God did deliver Daniel from the mouths of lions, but then Scripture also records Stephen's stoning. There was no deliverance.  He died from those stones.  God didn't divert them or paralyse the hands that tried to throw them or enable Stephen's body to remain undamaged by them.

I have just read a blog about another Mum who's son was also born with a bad prognosis.  She prayed and believed God could heal and enable her son to 'beat the odds'.  But years later he still hasn't beaten any odds.  We have dear friends who had two sons and both developed a genetic degenerative condition and died before they reached 25 - they didn't 'beat the odds'.  Another friend has a son with cerebral palsy and is still changing his nappies/diapers in his 20s - he hasn't 'beaten the odds'.

As I write this blog from my horizontal position while others enjoy the freedom of walking around at the shops or taking a walk through the bush, I am reminded that God was no less God at Stephen's stoning than He was at Daniel's Deliverance.  He was still working His purposes.

As my doctor starts asking me questions about menopause and has never had the need to ask me questions yet about how a pregnancy is progressing, I am reminded that God is still God whatever His purposes are.  Circumstances might not be my choosing but God isn't limited by what humans determine are good 'outcomes'.

Instead, God is working for His great eternal outcomes.  

He is working for the healing of souls from sin, not just the healing of bodies from disease and disability.  

He knows that a soul that trusts Christ in this life is saved from sin and thus automatically rescued from physical suffering in eternity.  But a body that is rescued from physical suffering in this life is not automatically saved from sin and death eternally. He doesn't enjoy seeing His creation suffer, and Jesus spent much of His earthly years healing people's bodies, but God has a higher priority than the temporal.

We need to be very careful when we rejoice with those who thank God for relief from physical suffering, that we explain the 'full story' in the process of preaching and discipleship .  

We need to make sure we focus on more than the 'physical' needs of people in our praise and in our prayer.

Some of you are probably familiar with the movie 'Facing the Giants'  - its a great movie in many ways, but while I rejoice for the many women who praise the Lord for answered prayer for a child, I feel for the many women who, like myself,  know that the gift of a child is not simply a result of our 'prayer', because they have prayed many prayers and still there is no child. 

Prayer is dependancy on God no matter what the outcomes, not manipulation of God to achieve our outcomes.  

So many around us here in Africa are yet to understand that.  

Prayer is not a ritual with magic powers.  Prayer is resting in the sovereignty of His Majesty the King of Kings.

In prayer and praise let's be sure to rejoice in God's purposes even when circumstances 'go wrong'.

Let's teach people in word and example to pray, trust, rejoice and rest in God's sovereignty no matter what the circumstances.

Both Daniel and Stephen entrusted themselves in prayer to their Creator for His purposes.  Their earthly circumstance 'outcomes' people saw, were different at the time.  But their eternal outcomes were the same.....they both died physically (Daniel still died at a later date) and they both live eternally.....and I look forward to meeting both of them in the resurrection!

And as a PS...we might think a Stoning is not deliverance, or a child that 'doesn't beat the odds' isn't deliverance, or infertility is not deliverance, but ultimately as Christians we are part of the greatest deliverance of history - Christ died for us.  

He brought eternal deliverance!  And the ability this gives us to rejoice in Christ's work and the Father's purposes no matter what the circumstances, is a greater deliverance. 

We are delivered from being defined and directed by our circumstances.  

We are part of a greater story than just what we see during our small window of time on this earth.

As the Mum in the blog mentioned above, said " Deliverance hasn't come from our circumstances.  But God doesn't need Calvin [her son's name] to beat the odds in order to prove his goodness, faithfulness, power and salvation. Our weakness is precisely what he is using to show his power and presence."

Honour and Shame and the Prosperity Gospel in Africa

The Prosperity Gospel has flooded Africa.

So much so that here in Botswana, a new law was passed to curb the proliferation of churches.  A reason given is that these 'new' churches are robbing the people with great promises of health, success and prosperity if they give great amounts to the church but the promises don't come through.  National leaders don't like it.

But why has the Prosperity Gospel engulfed this continent more than other places around the globe?  Are Africans more greedy than anyone else?  No I don't believe so.

It's all about worldview - an honour/shame worldview.

Gaining honour and avoiding shame are two partner goals of African culture, as I've said many times before.

The Prosperity Gospel offers wealth, health and success.  To be wealthy, healthy and successful is honourable in the society.  In other words the Prosperity Gospel offers what an African sees as honour.

WEALTH

The West looks at the apparent poverty of Africa and thinks that the offer of prosperity is something new and attractive.  Not so.  African's have not suddenly become eager for wealth.

As the West observed Africa, it saw what it thought was poverty and lack of wealth.....but that was according to the West's definition of wealth - big house, electricity, air-conditioning, plumbed hot water, flash car, Western Education, TV, DVD, computer, Cell phones, access to supermarkets etc etc.

What the West didn't think about was other forms of wealth....such as cows!  Yes cows.

Here in Botswana people don't live on their farm.  They don't live and have fields and graze their cows all in the one place.  They live in the village, with their fields further out from the village in another area and the cows are in a different place again - the cattle post where the men go.  You may look at a little hut in a yard and say they have very little.....but they may have 30 cows and fields under cultivation.  The number of cows you had was a main measure of your wealth.  Even now cows are valuable.  30 cows if they were sold could net at least P90000 - almost $10,000.  It's like saying a person doesn't have a TV but they have $10,000 in the bank, or they don't have running water but they have a nice car.  Of course traditionally the chief was the one with the most cows and the most land. Another traditional sign of wealth was the number of wives.  African's have always desired wealth. Wealth is honour and honour is power.

Urban Africans don't always have lots of cows (although many still have their cows and lands out at their home village) or lots of wives, but they do have the opportunity now days for lots of Western style wealth to show off.  Wealth still brings honour and honour still brings power.

The inverse is also true: Poverty is shame and shame is fear and insignificance.

Everyone wants to look the 'big man'!

HEALTH

Traditionally, sickness in Africa is seen as shameful, maybe the result of a curse and to be hidden.  Temporary illness is bad enough and traditional medicine is sought to reverse the curse. But Chronic illness or permanent disability that can't be reversed is perpetual shame and so the only way to overcome it is to hide it. The book 'Debility and the Moral Imagination in Botswana' talks about this very issue.  We have a friend doing post-graduate study here focusing on enabling the disabled, and I asked him how it was going.  His reply was that he faced a problem in that it was hard to find the disabled as they are hidden away.

As I think I have mentioned before, there is a widespread belief that when a person becomes a Christian, God has promised that they will no longer be put to shame (Romans 9:33).  Because the gospel has not been explained with any reference or teaching relating to shame, people bring in their cultural definitions and thus interpret that God is saying they will now not be ever having any shame in the eyes of other people.  This wrong understanding then leads to the view that whatever will alleviate shame before other people must be God's will, and whatever brings shame in the eyes of other people cannot possibly be God's will. 

Thus there is a belief that God would only want their physical healing.

This, combined with the widely held doctrinal belief that there is present healing in the atonement, not least through a mis-understanding of 'by his stripes we are healed' (Is 53), just fuels  and re-inforces the possibilities offered by the Prosperity Gospel.

SUCCESS

Thus success is seen as good health and great wealth - that is honourable.  Poverty in any form and illness/disability is seen as shameful.

So what we see is the Prosperity Gospel slotting in very nicely to traditional belief - a traditional belief that kept people trapped.  

People are busy trying to look rich in the eyes of others and look healthy in the eyes of others.  

People don't share their physical struggles - always everything is happy and fine!

People go into huge debt to 'look good'

People don't want to be seen going to 'cheap' shops or buying 'cheap' items,..... they want to be known to be wearing the latest clothes, and driving the latest car and smart phone. (the clothes might be on credit card, the car might have almost no fuel and not been taken to the mechanic for the proper tune-ups, the phone might have no call credit to be able to make calls, and there may be almost no food in the house but people don't see that.)

People don't save, because tomorrow and the future is not where Africans live - they live today and for what others see today.

Prophecies are attractive because a prophecy in itself brings a sense of honour in being 'chosen' to be 'blessed' and of course the 'blessing' in the prophecy is eagerly received as a promise of success and thus further honour.

The need for success isn't just personal either, because there is associated honour and associated shame.  Who a person is seen with affects how they are 'seen'.  So a person will want their family to be seen to also be successful.  

A Christian girl I mentored graduated from University.  Her mother (who also was a regular church attender) just happened to graduate from a Post Graduate degree at the same time and her mother decided to have a combined big graduation party.  The daughter had just finished doing a bible study on materialism and decided she didn't want to spend her entire bank account and more on the clothes she would wear on that night (under her graduation gown).  But her mother got very angry with her when she saw how simple and ordinary (though still elegant and new) the clothes were that her daughter was going to wear - 'what will all my friends think?' was the mother's cry.  She demanded her daughter wear something more expensive and glamorous.  It was a very difficult time and eventually there was a slight adjustment made but the mother still wasn't happy although she eventually accepted her daughter wasn't going to budge any further.  There was great pressure that she would bring shame on her mother by not dressing with the appearance of wealth and honour.

Replacing the Mis-placed

It saddens us greatly when we see the destructive twisted lies of the Devil still impacting people around us under the guise of Christianity.  But it reminds us again how vital it is that people hear the truth and let the truth set them free.  

Mis-placed cultural and Prosperity gospel beliefs need to be replaced with what God says about honour and shame.  This involves good Bible teaching and also teaching folk how to read and understand the text of their Bibles in context.  We are reminded that when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness he used Scripture out of context and made error sound believable and attractive.  

Not only do culturally mis-placed shame perspectives need to be replaced, so do religious ones.  

Blue Poles

There was a famous painting called Blue Poles, but in this blogpost I am talking about a different kind of Blue Poles....

These are ones we found in a carpark while we were on holiday in Durban....

I was thrilled to see not only well designed wheelchair parking that was not blocked off with either chain or yellow cones/hats (as they normally are in Botswana to stop non-handicapped people parking in them), but to see a whole section of the carpark marked out with blue poles and blue signs that were not just for wheelchair users but those who are elderly, mobility limited (including chronic fatigue the sign said), pregnant or with with babies.

And yes, I was so thrilled and amazed I just had to take a few photos!

I've been in other places in South Africa and Australia where parents with children in prams are catered for along with those in wheelchairs, but this was definitely a step ahead in the area of caring for those with special needs.

I'm sure other parts of the world - including Australia could learn something here and maybe follow suit.

Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible? - Part 3

Reason 5

I am challenged also that we are called to live by faith and not by sight.  What we see and do is not the whole story of ministry. Ministry has to be about what God is doing.  Even though He uses us as 'clay pots' for His purposes, His purposes are greater than the obvious activity of the pot.  Just because in my scope of vision I 'see less' happening according to my idea of 'ministry accomplishments', does not mean God has stopped working.  God is much bigger than that!  Just like I mentioned in a previous blog post about marriage being an unexpected ministry, so is my illness/disability.  

Comments and questions from those around us have shown us that God has been pleased to demonstrate various aspects of Christian living through this situation such as: 

• A husband caring for his wife 'in sickness and in health' instead of sending her back to her village to be cared for by her mother; 
• not being ashamed of getting around in a wheelchair including even fully reclined in the wheelchair (laying horizontal) in public such as in church, and at a restaurant; 
• trusting God with joy and contentment even when healing does not come;
• God can still use someone in productive ministry with a disability.  

These are all 'behind the scenes' aspects of God at work - ministering - through us, aspects that may not be what we consider our main 'ministry'.  But in God's eyes and purposes, they are just as significant as any 'obvious' ministry that we envisaged.  God wants to reach people's hearts, and this has all been part of reaching hearts with the reality of the gospel.

Reason 6

We know very well that we are in the front line of a Spiritual Battle and our struggle is not ultimately with the 'physical' issues.  We are totally convinced that Satan doesn't want us here and in addition to health issues has tried again and again and again to discourage us and make us want to quit and go home.  And he will certainly make every effort to hamper ministry and try to inhibit the truth reaching people's hearts....and so we value your partnership in prayer in this battle as 'with thanksgiving' we make our requests to a loving and almighty heavenly Father.

Reason 7

But we have learnt (and are very much still learning) that God is sovereign and more powerful than Satan. In addition, this world's momentary troubles, are all about working God's eternal purposes in His world and in the hearts of folks here in Botswana. We are limited by our own perspective on the circumstances around us, and so we instead trust in God's sovereign plans and purposes in and for those circumstances.  Even what Satan plans for evil, God is busy planning for good (as the story of Joseph and his brothers demonstrated) 

By His grace, God is working greater plans than we can see, and we can also rest in the knowledge that we are on the 'victory side' and His promise is true that 'as your days, so shall your strength be'..... with your prayers, we are compelled to press on.  

So do I think that illness/disability and ministry are ultimately incompatible?

 - By God's grace, absolutely not!

Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible? - Part 2

Reason 2

I am reminded of many great Christians down through the ages who have had significant ministry and impact all the while with a constant battle with a physical limitation/health challenge.  

I think of:

• William Wilberforce who battled terrible times of pain and discomfort with Collitis alongside his years of work to end the slave trade
• Amy Charmichael - missionary to India - who spent many years before her death, bed-bound, but it was during that time that she wrote her many books
• Joni Eareckson Tada who has spent over 40 years as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and has more recently additionally battled ongoing severe pain and cancer but has had immeasurable impact across the world in her work to help the disabled
• many of our favourite hymns were written by folks who experienced significant physical/mental suffering..... not to mention Fanny Crosby who was blind

And this is not to mention the Apostle Paul who had a 'thorn in the flesh' throughout his whole ministry.  Now there are some who will argue that we don't know what the 'thorn in the flesh' actually was.  I have had one Pastor give me his argument for why he believes it was just 'persecution' in general and not a physical health issue.  I beg to disagree since I think there is a great deal to indicate it was a problem that affected him in some physical way, not least because: he ended up taking a medical doctor along as his travel companion; the thorn is specifically said to be 'in the flesh'; and whatever it was, he says in his own words that it kept him 'weak' and God said to him "My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness". (2 Cor 12:9) Thus Paul was able to go on to say that instead of wanting his 'thorn' to disappear, that he could 'glory' (boast, gain honour) in his infirmities. 

We can attest that God takes the 'weak' things of this world to shame the strong! (1 Cor 1:27)

Reason 3

I also believe that God not only can use us in spite of our physical weaknesses, pain and limitations, but because of them.  The Apostle Paul tells us in Galations 4:13-15 that it was because of a physical infirmity that Paul came to first preach to the Galations.  Somehow it seems that some of Paul's plans were 'changed' and worked around his time of 'sickness', so as to end up in a position that he had to be in Galatia and because of that had opportunity to preach the gospel, that he otherwise was not planning. These 'changed' plans were actually the plans God wanted to happen. I think too of the boy that Jesus healed and explained that the reason the boy was sick was so that God's glory could be revealed through the boy!  God let him be physically 'ill' so that Jesus could come along and heal him!  We might say, 'but Jesus healed him'.  But while that may be true, firstly God let him be 'sick' for many, many years before that because He had a plan!  While this might be hard for us to understand, we must also remember that God's ways are higher than our ways!  We are to trust in the Lord and not our own understanding (Prov 3:5,6)  It is a great encouragement to know that whatever our circumstances, (including illness) that God has a much bigger plan in mind to grow us and bless others as He works all things together for good!

In my own situation, it is because of being laid 'horizontal' and unable to read because of the worst early stages of my POTS, that I began listening to audio books and sermons which 'gave birth' to the idea of a audio solar player of bible teaching as a discipleship tool to use here.  Thus we were led to connect with MegaVoice and team with them to produce a collection of 'Storyteller' players with messages on various topics and the "Pocket Preacher" with 2 years of daily discipleship material. I would never have thought of the idea nor had time to listen to all the files we have put onto the player except for the 'limitations' I found myself with.  What seemed to be limitations, were actually God's facilitations! God is definitely not limited by what we might see as limitations - He's much, much bigger than that!

Reason 4

Having said all this, I also believe that times of difficulty and testing, are also times for us to be reminded that any ministry that is God's work needs to be done in His strength and power.  Our own effort in our own strength will be ultimately useless and ineffectual. When things 'go wrong',  we are prompted again to turn to the Lord in prayer, seeking Him to act and intervene, acknowledging it is "not by might nor by power but by My Spirit" says the Lord, "and that  the battle belongs to the Lord".

Read on in Part 3 for Reasons 5,6 & 7.....

Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible?

We have recently received two emails which caused me to think again about this topic.

Both were from Christian friends (one here and one overseas) and in a context that desired to encourage us and assure us of prayer, but included an inference....that illness and effective ministry were incompatible.

They said "Without good health it is pretty much impossible to work effectively." 

and

"Maybe you need to think about staying in Australia for a while until you are both fully recovered. I find Botswana difficult enough when well and it would be impossible for me to work here if I was sick..."

Now without a doubt, let there be no confusion about our perspective on this, life is a lot more 'easy' when a person is well!!!  These last weeks with my POTS and Andrew developing Pericarditis, in our human-ness we sure wish we were both at full health and strength, and from our human perspective it is easy to feel that ministry is being hampered by our current limitations. ....and we certainly do pray that within God's will, that he would bring us healing and enabling to be giving our full energies to particular aspects of ministry once again.  We don't have to think twice on that!

However, as we discussed these comments, it only took a moment to realise that a great part of our ministry here, since the beginning, has been in the midst of illness and disability of various kinds.  Very, very little of our time here as been 'smooth' and many bumps in the road have often been health related.  I also began to be reminded that while these comments from dear friends were said in love for us, I believe there are several reasons why God would have me view my circumstances differently....

Reason 1

We had hardly first arrived in Botswana when Andrew broke and dislocated his elbow which resulted in many weeks of pain, limitations and physiotherapy which completely 'disrupted' and curtailed all the mission's plans for our first 6 months of orientation and language/culture learning. (but they were the same disruptions that made the way possible as it had not been before, for me to be able to attend my only sibling's wedding!)

In fact these emails prompted me to actually list down all the significant illnesses/disabilities/injuries we have had between us since arriving in Botswana and I was actually shocked.  (And it didn't take into account various 'runny tummy bugs', migraines, flu, and allergy problems and various other minor issues.)

Yes, life in Bots is tough enough without physical weakness/illness as well, but its kind of like God has 'trained' us from the beginning to cope with being 'less than fully fit' in Botswana.  

- Andrew's been hospitalised twice, 

- got facial, hand and inhalation gas burns while catering for an event at church, 

- spent several months mostly in a wheelchair when a tibia stress fracture refused to heal, 

- he's had pneumonia, 

- had months of complications from a nerve block in his arm (used instead of an anaesthetic in a surgical procedure) with his arm in a sling

- And then there was the severe Arrhythmia that has plagued him the last 6 months (with pain and exhaustion) - the Doc was amazed he hadn't had  a heart attack by the time he saw him. 

- Since we have been here, he's been diagnosed with NCS, seriously low BP, and Klinefelter Syndrome

- and now the many weeks of weakness/recovery from Pericarditis

then...

- I've had some serious flues/ lung infections on the brink of Pneumonia, and developed Chronic Bronchitis, 

- had Salmonella, 

- tore a shoulder ligament

- had a year of a frozen shoulder

- and now Dysautonomia/POTS for the past 3.5 years keeping me mostly horizontal and using a recliner wheelchair for out-and-about mobility

...we never thought we would both be regular patients of a Cardiologist before we were 50!  

(But even in that, God has been so gracious and faithful to provide us with such a great cardiologist, so close and much more cheaply than if we had been in OZ.)  

Now we are not saying that our ailments are any worse than anyone else's but, it is a very real reminder that the thought that we need to be healthy for God to use us and for ministry to happen successfully, may not align with God's idea of success.....and if we needed to go home to Australia to recover, every time we had a 'serious' health issue, we would virtually never be in the place of ministry God had placed us!

Read on in Part 2 and Part 3 of more reasons as I consider this issue......

A Grand-daughter's gift!

Today marks a day of mixed emotions as our little 2yr old 'grand-
daughter' and her parents move back to Zimbabwe to live.

In many ways they don't want to go, but a variety of situations
require them to.

We have been making the most of these last weeks and days with them
with special outings and meals together. We have had so many special
'grand-parent' times and have lots of special memories and photos! We
will miss them a lot and they will miss us too. We have had so much
fun as little Tarnisha grows in her vocabulary of Shona (her parents
language), English (her 'grand-parents' language!) and Setswana (the
local language) and endeavours to work out which people understand
which words!
 We have watched her discover about pulling her little
wagon, figure out how to use her tiny 'kids' garden rake as she helps
her dad in the garden, learn to 'clap hands' with her 'Grand-pa
(Sekuru) and do drawings with her 'pens' (crayons) with Grand-ma
(Gogo). We have been encouraged as she learns about talking to God and
puts her hands together waiting for someone to 'give thanks to God' so
she can eat.

But yesterday brought another smile to my face and whenever I look at
this photo, I'll have a special memory... that I want to share...

Little Tarnisha's parents were packing the last of their things into a
box in our carport and I went out to sit and chat with them while they
worked. So Tarnisha came to sit with Gogo (that kept her occupied and
out from under her parents feet). After a while she took me by the
finger and led me to sit with her in a different spot, which we did
for a bit. Then she led me back by the finger to the first spot
again. After a few minutes, she took my finger again and tugged at my
arm to come with her to another spot. She didn't have the English
words yet to say what she wanted properly, but her mum interpreted the
Shona words for me - she wanted Gogo to come play with her in the sand

in our driveway. Between her mum and I, we explained that Gogo can't keep moving and can't go and play in the sand with her but that she
could go and play in the sand. She seemed to understand and happily enough went to the sand. 

But I was in for a surprise! A minute or so
later, she came back to me carefully carrying two full hands of sand and got me to open my hands so she could 'deliver' her gift. Then off
she went to get more! When she thought she had enough she stood in front of my open hand with its little pile of sand and proceeded to
play with that sand! When it had all been bumped out or fallen through my fingers, she just went and got more sand and brought it! Her creative thinking and kind heart and thoughtfulness of bringing the

sand to Gogo since Gogo couldn't go to the sand, touched our hearts.
How precious!

Well, before long my white trousers were quite dirty -
it looked like I really had played in the sand with her!

Even a bit more about POTS

MORE ON THOSE POTS LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENTS

With such a condition as POTS, ones lifestyle is radically changed as I cope with symptoms, but also as I try to reduce any unecessary strain on my body so as to maximise the body's resources for healing, and so we have made many adjustments as to how we 'do' life:

- I now sit down to have a shower

- long hot showers are things of the past - the shorter the better and the colder the better.....otherwise by the time its time to get out my heart rate will be high, the blood pressure low and I am pretty unsteady on my feet which is not so good!

- I don't wash my hair anymore.......my husband either does it for me in the shower or else our maid or a carer does it while I lie down in my recliner wheelchair which is backed into the shower and we use a hand-held shower rose.

- Getting ready for the day takes hours - since I can't do everything in a continuous run (as that would mean my heart rate gets too high for too long), instead I get up and visit the loo and then lie down again for a while to let my heart rate settle again.  Then I sit up to have breakfast and lie down again for a while.  Then I get up to have a shower and dress and then lie down again for a while.  Then I get up again and sit down while I clean my teeth and put on my shoes. And then I lie down again on my day bed.

- On my day bed I have a special angled bed-table with my laptop computer on it.  (yes even on the edge of the Kalahari there is internet access - at least in the capital city it is generally available)  and beside me I have a few baskets with books, stationery supplies, and other odds and ends.  I also have a small cabinet with other items I need regularly, a box of snacks and my medications/supplements and the phone, and a 4 litre water flask/pump.

- Nearby is also a wrist Blood Pressure monitor (the above reading was taken on an average Spring day (not too hot), a few minutes after going from a supine to sitting position on my day bed) - the reading below was taken also on an average Spring day (not too hot) but while standing still (upright position) after getting dressed for the day.

 and some days ....

- I also wear a heart rate monitor.  Its what the athletes wear at the gym to make sure they get up to their desired heart rate and it gives a beep when they get over it.  So i wear it to make sure I don't go over a certain heart rate and it beeps at me if I do.  For me the 'beep beep' is a danger sound rather than a celebration sound - but none-the-less it is a wonderful blessing as without it, I really have no idea that my heart rate is going so high.  It was because of this little gadget that I learnt that I needed to sit down in the shower and needed someone else to wash my hair for me, because doing it all myself while standing up, my heart rate was almost 160bpm!  (No wonder my cardiologist compared my situation to like being at the gym 24/7 and that my heart couldn't keep that up forever!)

- I also have a special car seat-belt now - like the racing car drivers wear - so I can ride in the front passenger seat with the seat fully reclined and still be belted in.

- I am now thankfully mostly having the strength to not need the wheelchair around the house.  I can walk to where I need to be and try to not stay standing up when I get there, and instead sit down.  If the weather is not hot and I don't talk too energetically, I can now stay sitting for about an hour without my heart rate going over my limit - as long as I don't do it too often. (In the summer time when my legs can be seen, if I stand up for too long, my lower legs start to go red from the blood pooling and I know I need to get horizontal fairly quickly!)

- in hot weather (of which there is lots here on the edge of the Kalahari Desert - summer days can get up to well over 40), I am much more limited. I found out that for every 10 degrees over 20 the ambient temperature rises, our heart rate rises 10bpm.  With my base heart rate already being high (around 80-85), if the temp is around the 40 mark then my heart rate is 100-105 before I even move.....and the limit I am not supposed to go over is 108!  All I have to do is move my arm while lying down and doing nothing else (not even speaking) and its over!!!!!...............so as you can imagine I am much happier in cooler weather!

- if I want to have a good conversation or do anything that takes concentration I have to be lying down otherwise the heart rate goes too high.

- I have learnt that I can't watch tense drama movies.  I didn't know until recently that the body doesn't differentiate between what it sees on TV and what it sees in real life and although part of you knows this isn't real, the body still responds with 'flight or fight' reaction response like it is real.  Your heart rate increases as the body gets ready for your need to have to make some quick decisions and take quick action like you were actually part of the drama itself!

- I have also learnt that because of the effects on the eyes ability to respond properly (resulting in blurring etc), my eyes also don't cope too well with quick image changes on the TV - fast moving image changes give me a headache real fast - so some movies I have to watch only part and just listen to the rest!  ......that puts a different take on 'watching a movie'!

- I also have to try not to talk while I am sitting up eating - sitting up + eating + talking is like a triple dose of increased heart rate so two at once is the limit.  Talking has to wait till I am lying down again, after the meal!

- And of course some of the biggest adjustments are that I can't 'run' my own house like I once did. I thank the Lord for a hubby who not only can cook but likes to cook and treats shopping as a 'hunting expedition'!  He actually gets great satisfaction from finally finding and capturing and bringing home his 'catch'!

In a future blog maybe I'll share some of what God has done with a person who He 'put on her back'!

A bit more about POTS....

DIET and EXERCISE CONSIDERATIONS with POTS

Having a good doctor to work with, makes all the difference in any
medical situation especially for chronic conditions such as POTS. I
couldn't really wish for a better Doctor who is highly professional,
intelligent and has great 'bedside manner' and humble enough to listen
to and learn from his patients.

Of course when a person is first ill there is always the thought of
what pill can I take that might help. And I didn't lack for people's
suggestions coming from all over. I was very thankful for the
internet to be able to check them out and for a doctor who is cautious
and careful when it comes to jumping on medications. However, there
are several 'potions' that are now part of my regular daily regimen as
well as various changes I have made to my diet....and so far these
seem to be having a positive effect.

I am now on various vitamin/mineral supplements - some that I have
found beneficial and some that my doctor has prescribed which include,
Magnesium, Vit D, Vit C, Omega 3.

and.....SALT - lots of it!

......did you know that we don't all need to reduce our salt!....some
people like me actually have to work hard to increase my salt intake!
(and yes its with my Cardiologist's blessing!)

We all actually need salt in our diet. The problem is that many
people eat too much processed food that has added salt, and end up
with too much salt. But if you don't eat too much processed food then
it is highly possible you need more salt in your diet. I discovered
that a person should have 2300mg sodium (6000mg salt) per day
according to the American Heart Association.

When I actually added up how much salt I was having each day I was
struggling to reach 500mg sodium each day! We ate a diet of mostly
fruit and vegetables, a little bit of meat, very little bread and I
couldn't have much dairy due to an issue with Chronic Bronchitis and
needing to reduce the mucous production in my lungs and so wasn't
eating much cheese either. We rarely had any processed meats or take
aways and we had been told it was good to reduce salt and so we didn't
cook pasta or rice or vegetables with salt either. So I have actually
had to work hard to get my salt intake up and now I use the salt-
shaker at almost every meal! It's actually not easy to keep up enough
salt when you don't want to eat "junk food" or too much oil or
processed food. V8 or Tomato Juice is good and its easy to add even
more salt to it without it tasting too bad. If a person's salt levels
are too low then it can mean their Blood Pressure would be too
low....and mine was certainly low and my husband was diagnosed with
Low Blood Pressure issues two years before as well.

and WATER -

The other issue I have to work at is keeping up my fluid intake as
getting dehydrated is a big problem that contributes to low blood
pressure and in turn can raise my heart rate. And we live in one of
the driest places on the earth....we are in a desert and our daytime
humidity has got as low as 3%!!!! This past year most of our daytime
humidity was below 20%. That's almost like living constantly with the
humidity as low as it is on an Airplane. So I have to make sure I am
constantly drinking enough water - a minimum of 2 litres per day and
some days in summer quite a bit more than this. I have learnt that a
certain type of headache probably means I am starting to get
dehydrated and with some extra water the headache vanishes.

EXERCISE

Exercise is a difficult one as most exercise requires a person to be
sitting or standing and moving energetically - which would all send my
heart rate too high for too long, and give me a lot of muscle pain for
days or weeks afterwards. This would end up being severely
detrimental to my recovery and general health, rather then helpful.
So, apart from doing as much physically as I can without nasty after-
effects, and especially limiting what I do to mostly in a sitting or
recumbent position, I have found other ways to help my body in this
area:

I was able to get a second hand APT trainer machine which enables me
to 'ride a bike' while lying down and not necessarily exerting effort
to do it, to help with maintaining muscle tone.

God has also blessed us with a wonderful and helpful maid/house help
who we sent on a massage course and is now a qualified massage
therapist and gives me a massage every week. I have learnt that like
the APt trainer, massage is a form of 'passive exercise' and a full
body massage is equivalent to a five mile walk in its effects on
circulation and body health. I have also learnt that it is a very
effective means of lowering heart rate and improving muscle tone!

A bit about POTS...

POTS - I have referred to it in previous posts, as it is the medical condition I was diagnosed with a couple of years back and has significantly altered my lifestyle, our ministry focus, been a huge challenge to our marriage, and 'trial' in which I have learnt and continue to learn a lot of new perspectives on what it means to grow in my trust in God alone.

So I thought it might be helpful to explain a little more about this condition...

P Postural

O Orthostatic

T Tachycardia

S Syndrome

What is it?

The short simplified answer is that it is a Syndrome (means something with many symptoms) that is characterised mainly by the fact that my heart rate is too fast (Tachycardia) when I am in a posture (Postural) of being upright (Orthostatic).

It is a form of Dysautonomia - which means that the Autonomic Nervous System has malfunctioned.  The Autonomic Nervous System is that part of our bodies that controls everything we don't have to think about such as - 

- heart rate

- blood pressure

- body temperature

- digestion

- pupil dilation

- perspiring

etc etc

Symptoms of POTS are many and some people have more than others or have some worse than others:

• Excessive Fatigue
• Exercise Intolerance
• Recurrent Syncope or Near Syncope
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Tachycardia
• Palpitations
• Visual Disturbances

  • Blurred Vision
  • Tunnel Vision
  • Graying Out

• Tremulusness
• Weakness - most noticeable in the legs
• Chest Discomfort
• Shortness of Breath
• Mood Swings
• Migraines and Other Headaches
• Gastrointestinal Problems

Here are some good links for more information on POTS

WorldLingo

NDRF

So I spend the most part of my life now, in a horizontal position on a day bed with my computer propped up on a special stand over the top of my legs.  And I have a recliner-wheelchair that I can use for outings or spending some time in the garden (our animals enjoy me in 'their world' and often come to be near me when I'm outdoors), so I can 'go horizontal' any time I need to.  I also wear a heart rate monitor so I can tell if my heart rate is getting too high by sitting up or standing up for too long.  Always sitting to have a shower and always having someone else wash my hair are part of daily life now.  Avoiding hot showers and hot weather are priorities. 

It is unknown just how long I will have this condition although it is thought that it is mostly not permanent.  My POTS was probably caused by the 'after effects' of a virus and my body will take a while to 'heal'.

I was amazingly diagnosed fairly soon after the onset of my POTS as within a few months of becoming very debilitated with no energy, shortness of breath, horrible headaches and some other weird symptoms, my local doctor realised my pulse was racing and all I was doing was sitting up in bed talking to him!  He immediately sent me off to see a Cardiologist.  On my second visit with the Cardiologist, he began talking about Dysautonomia.  And that set the wheels in motion for me to do some further research.  He was also in communication with other doctors internationally who advised him that due to my test results and the fact that I had had ME/CFS in the past, the normal medications a doctor would try, weren't worth trying as they don't work on patients like me and cause more trouble with side effects than what they would aim to achieve (and not achieve).

I thank the Lord for His amazing blessing of a wonderful and helpful Cardiologist here on the edge of the Kalahari Desert.  Dr Bhagat is one of the best doctors my husband or I have ever encountered (and between us we have encountered quite a few over the years!) And he is just a 10 minute drive down the road and doesn't charge 'an arm and a leg'...and his clinic is actually wheelchair accessible!

He has worked with us and us with him in all kinds of things to do to give my body the best chance of recovery. 

Disabled in the Desert

Just a few days ago in the local paper I read that some new laws are to be passed in Botswana in regard to building regulations needing to accommodate the needs of the disabled.  That is sure welcome news indeed.

Getting around this Desert nation in a wheelchair is a journey full of the motto 'be prepared'.  You are never quite sure if you will be able to get where you intend to go or what adjustments you might have to make along the way.

Since receiving my special recliner wheelchair over a year ago now, my life has certainly happily included many 'outings' that I would otherwise have been unable to take.  You see I can't stand for long or sit up for too long without my heart rate going way too high, and if I don't want my heart to wear out completely in the near future, I have to make sure its doesn't get too high too often or for too long....and so therefore I spend most of my life now in a horizontal position on a day-bed with a special computer bed-table.  It's all a part of living life with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

My wheelchair looks like a relatively 'normal' wheelchair except the back is a little higher with an extension piece, and it has elevating leg rests.  But then when I need to lie down, the back can be lowered and the leg rests elevated so essentially it looks like I have my own mobile 'bed'.  I can go to restaurants (and lie down between courses), to church (there I am at the front of the photo), to the doctor, into the garden, to visit friends, to meetings in Government and Corporate offices, to craft fairs etc etc and anytime i need to, I can just go 'horizontal'. It's great!  (I would do even more than I do, except it does take more effort than just my routine at home, so there is still some extra strain on my heart.....and on hot days when my heart rate is already higher than normal, I can't afford to send it even a little bit higher).  

But the process of getting packed into the car, and then the process of getting out of the car and not being sure what awaits me at the other end can be a bit tricky sometimes.  The chair is a heavy one and a bit bigger than a normal chair so I can't just have a friend pick me up in their car and take me somewhere.  I have to be taken in our car and lifting the chair up and down from the back of our CRV is heavy work for my husband.  But sometimes that is the easy bit!  We have had some interesting experiences along the way.....

u  I can turn up to a shopping centre or flash hotel only to discover that yes, for sure they have 'disabled parking' but there are ropes across the front of it or a cone hat in the middle of it......so we have to stop the car, my husband has to get out and move the hat or rope (or try to find an attendant to 'unlock' the rope chain') and then get back in and park the car!

u  Going to the public toilet is sometimes tricky too.  Many places just don't have a toilet for the disabled/wheelchair so you just have to hang on!  Other places have a ladies one in the ladies toilets and a men's one in the men's toilets - but what do we do when its just my husband and I?  (yes we have had situations where my husband has taken me into the ladies loo - what else are we supposed to do?!) Some places where this is the case have double automatic closing  doors (one that you push followed by one that you pull) that don't like to stay open - at least my arms still work and I can help hold doors open as we go through and once in a while someone will notice our plight and actually help us!.  Other places have an accessible disabled toilet but its kept locked.....and not used very often, so finding the key becomes a mission!

u  change rooms in a department or clothing store....Well that's almost out of the question completely because the chair just can't turn in the tiny passage way space to even get to the change rooms and no change room is big enough to get the chair into and still be able to close the door!.....and again which change room does my husband take me too....the men's or the ladies?

u  Thankfully many buildings here are one level although one level can often mean up one or two steps and then one level!  But there are still a lot of 2 or three level buildings that have been built with stairs and no lifts - even executive office buildings.  Most often this can be worked around and executives whose offices are upstairs will come down to see me.  But sometimes a 'stairs only' situation can be very disappointing.  Recently my husband and I were excited to be able to go to a local concert with the local Musical Society and a couple of local Tenors.  We were really looking forward to it and we knew the place had ramps so we thought we were set....until we got there and discovered that the concert was not on the lower level as we had anticipated but was on the upper floor in one of the function rooms  AND the only access was a very narrow and steep flight of stairs!  We hung around for the first half to see if maybe the sound might travel down to our level....but it didn't really.  Then a wonderful thing happened - the choir conductor was so apologetic about it that she brought the choir down to serenade me one item at the end of intermission!

u  Even just going along without any need for toilets, change rooms or parking spaces can have its own challenges, when one is in a wheelchair.  Uneven concrete, curbs that don't always have 'ramps' to get on and off, ramps that are not built to any specification and are way too steep for comfort!, and of course on the edge of a desert of course there is the fact that there is plenty of sand!  Sandy soil and even patches of rough rocky soil here has meant that we have had to change the wheels on my chair from the originals (that were designed for wheelchair friendly smooth hospital corridors and smooth even footpaths of the UK) to what we call the 4X4 version of wider tyres with deeper tread.  We have even had issues of the rubber seals that enable the seat to move when the chair is folded for transport, have dried out in our excessively dry weather and when my husband went to open the chair for me, the whole thing came apart and the seal went rolling away! (we are more careful now!)

So life in a wheelchair can be interesting and challenging, and just that bit more when its at the edge of the Kalahari Desert.

But wheelchairs are not a very common sight here and they were even less common when we first came over 10 years ago.  Traditionally, disability was something that was shameful and meant a person had no ability to get anywhere unless they were carried.  But things are changing bit by bit and we praise the Lord that disability is seen a little more positively now days and that there is recognition that even the disabled are equal in value as people and can still contribute to the community.  And I praise the Lord for the opportunity He has given me to be an example to those I meet when I am "out and about" that God has a plan and purpose for those the world would ignore or discard, because what might seem a 'limitation' in the eyes of man, can be a 'facilitation' in the hands of God to fulfil His purposes more fully and display His glory more clearly!