Viruses

No, not the digital kind. I've got a cold. A really nasty one that's gotten way deep down in my chest. Not good since I'm supposed to be embarking on a multi-destination trip tomorrow that will have a duration of about a month. This is definitely not a good way to start it off.

*This part in brackets is for those interested in the logistics of my virus. For the rest of you who aren't, don't bother to read this because you won't miss anything. Just pick up where the * ends.

Now knowing of course that I'm an herb junky, you might also be interested in knowing that... I'm pouring Samento down me (not lit. pouring! a few drops is all you really need... that stuff is strong!), rubbing myself with thieves oil and taking lots of vitamin C.

I tried Virogen at first, which is really great for kicking flu's but it just didn't seem to work on this thing. So I switched to colloidal silver and eating raw garlic -Whew, that burned! That definitely helped but I could tell I needed something stronger so I switched to Samento, better known as "Cat's Claw". That coupled with zinc lozenges, and vit. C really seems to have kept it from getting out of hand. My brother also came down with it and he's had a much harder time since we weren't quite sure what would work at first and he doesn't like strong herbal medicine. *

Oh well. I'm keeping in mind the fact that this will be gone in a week or two. When you think about it, all in all, that's not too bad.

Getting sick like this reminds me how fortunate I am to be well most of the time. Two years ago I began a battle with Lyme disease (after being bitten by an infected insect). For those of you who don't know, Lyme is a vicious bacteria that attacks and wrecks all kinds of havoc on the central nervous system. It was a really rough two years where I was literally fighting to live like a normal person- and at times... just fighting to live.

The Lord used it in an amazing way to teach me about Himself and to learn lessons about life that I would not have learned otherwise. One of those lessons was that everything happens for a reason. It's the message behind Romans 8:28. Behind every seemingly bad thing, there is a good purpose that will come from it. That has become the defining motto of my life.

Last year I was pronounced officially "negative" and we began celebrating. I'm really lucky, it only lasted two years for me, some of my friends still have it and having been battling it for much longer. I will have to tell you about them sometime. About sheer, human will in the face of overwhelming circumstances, about learning to adjust yourself to an almost disabled lifestyle that most people would buckle under, and about learning to have faith in God despite an unending cycle of constant suffering. When I stop and consider their daily distress, I remember...

What's a cold... after all?