Who Do You Trust With Your Health?

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

Trust The Lord

I was sick with a kidney infection this past weekend, and it was a scary kind of sick. The kind that had me uncontrollably trembling for 30-45 minutes, followed by a high fever and a blinding headache. I’m still a little sore after recovering from it. The doctors had given me antibiotics the week before for an infection but turns out those didn’t kill the infection and it got worse. They didn’t call back to tell me the right kind of antibiotic, and I developed a kidney infection, or so I assumed. I really didn’t know what was happening to me and didn’t feel like anyone knew how bad I was feeling except for me. I didn’t feel like I could trust the doctor now either, so who could I trust with my health? 

Who do you trust with your health? 

It’s one thing to feel terrible, and another to have no idea what is happening to you and not know who to turn to. Only you can feel what’s happening, but it’s not always easy to explain it to others, let alone diagnose and treat yourself. That’s why there are doctors. Doctors are wonderful gifts from God, but I have had my fair share of bad experiences with my PCP, and this recent bout of sickness made me rethink who I can trust as a caregiver. Caregivers need to be caring and competent. Caring enough to actually care what happens to you as a patient, and competent enough to know how to treat you.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you” Isaiah 26:3a

A friend gave me the Isaiah verse above before I went into labor with Ellie, and the Spirit brought the verse back into memory when I was starting to panic during one of my longer-lasting tremors. The opposite of panic is peace. The opposite of chaos is focus. God replaced my panic with peace and my chaotic mind with focus as I recited this verse over in my mind. I tried to still my body by stilling my mind on the Lord. 

“Because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3b

Who can we trust with our health? We can trust in the Lord. 2 Samuel 22:3-4 says the Lord is our:

Rock

Fortress

Deliverer

Rock

Stronghold

Refuge

Savior

God is our deliver, our rock, our refuge, our savior. These are all things I needed when I was down and out. I needed someone to deliver me from the sickness, be my rock and tell me it’s okay, and be my refuge I could go to for someone who cares. Jesus is the Great Physician, both a spiritual and physical healer. But even when He was on the earth, He didn’t heal all the sick people all the time. Let us have complete faith that the Lord can do all things and heal us from every disease, but he might not heal us the first time every time. God knows His children and knows what is best for each of us. In the midst of our sickness we can pray for healing and be kept in perfect peace by focusing our minds on trusting the Lord and His ways. 

Trust Yourself

So yes, we trust in the Lord, but he also gave us the great responsibility of taking care of ourselves. Exercising, eating right, and living in a way that glorifies the God who made us in His image are part of trusting ourselves with our own health. Stormie Omartian in Power of a Praying Woman sums it up well:

Healing and body care are two different things. When you ask God to heal you, this is something He does. Taking care of your body is something you do. Both are vitally important.

God knows we are a fallen race and can’t do everything perfectly. That’s why He sent Jesus to be our Healer. But He also calls us to be good stewards over everything He gives us, including our body. He wants us to live in balance and temperance and to take care not to abuse our body in any way. He wants us to glorify Him in the care of our bodies because we are the temple of His Holy Spirit.

Each body is different, so get to know yours. Know what movement makes you happy and do that. Know what food makes you feel nourished and eat that. Know what activities calm your soul and do those. Trust that God has given you responsibility over your own body. 

Trust Your Caregiver

We trust the Lord, we trust ourselves by taking care of ourselves, and we partner with the right caregivers. There are some situations that require family to be caregivers. My husband and I are full-time caregivers for our almost two-year-old. We might not always feel competent when we turn around and she has play dough in her mouth again, but we do care for and love that little girl!

And then there are some caregivers we hire to look after more complicated health issues. I am a personal trainer, and writing this post reinforces my belief that my clients need to feel cared for as an individual person with unique needs and that I know what I’m doing. I’m also in charge of the health of our family, and want to make sure we have a good set of doctors for checkups and sick visits. I have come to really like the staff at my doctor’s office, but they don’t like calling me back with important information like test results to give me the right antibiotics. It may be time to move on. When trusting a new caregiver, I use the Ask, Seek, Knock system that Jesus gave to us about prayer:

Ask: Ask around for good recommendations from your family, friends, coworkers. Does this doctor, therapist, trainer have a good reputation? Who do other people like in the area?

Seek: Look into a few choice candidates and cross reference with insurance options, budget, and need. Check certification and education backgrounds to make sure they’re qualified. 

Knock: Schedule an appointment to meet with the person if possible before signing up as a patient or client. It’s nice to not only see the caregiver in person, but to meet the staff and experience the environment. Make sure you feel cared for and that the person is competent enough to treat you. 

I've done my asking around, so now it's seek and spreadsheet time. I'm going to go and make a list of doctors that fit our sky-high insurance and hopefully one will fit the bill for us!

Who do you trust with your health? 

Have you ever been in a position where you felt like nobody cared or knew what to do for you?