Our Walk By Faith

I thought that I would share a few of my thoughts on a tender subject for me. What I'll share applies to our life and is simply my personal opinion. It is difficult for me to put this all into words when people ask me about it. I have a difficult time gathering my thoughts and presenting them firmly yet kindly and in a Christ-like manner. I am a much better writer than I am a speaker. So often, I walk away frustrated and sometimes angry because I did not share my heart. So, this is my poor attempt at putting my thoughts together in hopes that I can share them more clearly in the future.

If you have been reading our blog long enough, you might have figured out that our youngest son has multiple food allergies. Most of them are life-threatening. He also has asthma and eczema. We did not discover his allergies until he was 1yo. He is now 5 and a thriving, happy little boy! Along the way, we have met people who think it is "no big deal." This was not too surprising to me because I used to think the same way. I thought that parents of allergic children were overreacting. For some people, they will never quite understand unless they see their own child go through anaphylaxsis. Hey, that's what happened to me!! Another thing I have run into is alternative treatments to food allergies. You name it, I have heard it all. I first ran into alternative treatments for food allergies within one month of our son's diagnosis. I was sent a link by someone I had met on an e-mail loop. I read about this, researched and Ski and I made a decision on it. It is a wonderful thing in the Christian life that we are given choices. I am thankful for it.

First and foremost, Ski and I have chosen mainstream medicine. We are seeing a wonderful doctor who really knows his stuff. Our Skibums have had a multitude of medical issues. We have also had the good fortune to have excellent doctors with one exception, which we remedied by finding Iz's current allergist. We have seen God use gifted physicians and feel they are valid and useful. We have truly been blessed!!

Secondly, we have seen our son near death more times than I would like to admit. From my research, I have never found any independent medical studies done to support the alternative treatments. Everything that I have ever heard has been anecdotal. While I have no reason to doubt personal experiences -- especially those of people that I know --- I am not willing to jeopardize the life of my son for an unproven treatment.

I have heard that people have gone from anaphylactic to not allergic. I want to see the test results. I want to see real studies. Rightly or not, I have experienced guilt when I have given my son a food that he has reacted to. There is currently no guarantee that these methods are safe. My son is my responsibility and I will do what I can to protect him. I will not let him endure a treatment that is unproven because I believe that the risk is too great.

Alternatives are always presented to me as a "cure." Dr. Wood has an excellent chapter on alternative treatments in the book that he co-authored, Food Allergies for Dummies. Dr. Wood is severely allergic to peanuts and is a Professor of Pediatrics and International Health and Chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He states that he would readily submit to these practices if they were a true cure. As my friends of severely allergic children would say, "if there was a cure, it wouldn't be a secret." There may be benefits for things like relaxation techniques and acupuncture for conditions like asthma when used with both rescue and maintenance meds. But claims of cure have not been documented in medical journals using blood tests. Until they are, I am not ready to commit. I am happy for my friends and acquaintances who have found things that they feel have helped them. I am glad that they feel healthy and happy and they have 100% of my support if God has led them that way. Who am I to argue with God's leading in their life? If you're reading this and have chosen alternative treatments, please know I am speaking from my heart and life and the application is not for you. ;)

Then there is the aspect of suffering, a subject near and dear to my heart. This is probably the greatest reason for why I choose what I choose. First of all, many people assume that my ds is suffering greatly with the allergic foods removed from his diet. I can assure you that the only thing that suffers is my grocery budget. Within 6 mos of removing the offending foods, our ds jumped three growth curves. If you placed him in a crowd of 5yos, I doubt that you could pick him out. He is healthy and thriving.

So often, we, as humans, fear suffering. Even many Christians see suffering as a bad thing. But scripture tells us to rejoice in our sufferings because God is present and at work.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:6-9

Ski and I have learned much about suffering although our trials have been indeed light and momentary. I don't claim to know it all, but I don't want to run and hide in anxiety every time that things get a bit tough. That has been a looooong time coming!! :) I have seen God do so much good in the midst of trials and suffering. If I can see good, I cannot imagine what He is doing behind the scenes. I am not saying that people who choose these treatments are afraid of suffering. But so often, the way it is presented to me is that people want to help our ds to stop suffering. I find it interesting that people who have seen us walk through trials and our day-to-day life rarely bring things like this up. I wonder if it is because they see our outlook on it. We don't see all of this as some terrible burden on our life. We do not think that we deserve great pity or recognition. We see it as part of the life that God has chosen for us. We see that when God allows trials, He builds our faith and provides us an opportunity to glorify Him in a trusting response.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

My personal faith does not allow me to choose an alternative treatment because that would be, for me, the equivalent of running and hiding and not living in faith. So, instead we choose what we choose because it is what God has led us to. But it becomes discouraging to hear someone's interest in our son disintegrate into "but I have a better way". I know that there is caring and love behind those words, but I become tempted to clam up and not share our lives. But thankfully and somewhat frighteningly to me, God urges me to press on and share. And God grants me grace daily to do what I do that people around me find so difficult to imagine. But to me, most of the time, it is not difficult because God DOES give grace -- every day!!

We believe God can miraculously heal Iz. We believe in praying for that. But if God should not choose miraculous means, we choose what God has drawn us to walk in by faith -- strict avoidance of all allergens and a wait and see approach with testing, etc along the way with board certified physicians. There is a real possibility that there will be a proven cure for life threatening food allergies in as little as 5 years. This does give us medical hope. But if that should not happen and should our son remain allergic to some or all of the foods that he is allergic to today, he will be no less of an amazing person. He is indeed a boy who is fearfully and wonderfully made and we marvel at that and the intricacies of the human body. But we marvel most in the Lord and our hope is in Him.

Thank you to all of you who want to see Iz cured. Please keep praying for his soul and body, that everything we do would be an example of walking a life journey of faith and trusting God's will and ways, and wisely avoiding any other path.