Walking by Faith

For those of you who don't stalk us on Facebook and who don't already know, Steve has Bell's Palsy. Don't be alarmed. It's not life threatening. It's not contagious. The nerve behind the ear controls the facial muscles on that respective side of the face. Bell's Palsy is a paralysis of one side of the face. In rare cases, both sides become paralyzed.

What causes this condition? The nerve becomes inflamed.

What causes the inflammation? No one really knows. There are theories that it might be from the cold virus, the cold sore virus, or lyme disease. But no one knows for sure. The only certain cause is due to a head injury. But we know he didn't hit his head. One doctor we saw this week believes it's connected to emotional stress. I guess really only God knows for sure.

How does it affect Steve?

Well, the right side of his face is paralyzed. If you've ever gone to the dentist and had your mouth numbed, it's like that, but worse. He can hardly move his facial muscles on that side of his face. The long term repercussions if he doesn't recover would be muscle atrophy. He has a hard time eating and drinking. He laughs still, but smiling is difficult. He makes the best of it.

What are the treatments?
Conventional medicines. Anti-inflammatory and anti-viral drugs.

We tried an accupressure therapy as was suggested by a friend who is in that profession and said he has successfully treated patients with Bell's Palsy. Steve has another appointment next week.
An increase of B-12 vitamin is supposed to help stimulate nerve healing. So, we've amped up his vitamin intake.

"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it." 2 Corinthians 5:6-9

A faith walk...

The Apostle Paul writes that we live by faith, not by sight. The other day we were talking about how having Bell's Palsy is frustrating for both of us in different ways. And we both concluded that it's not that bad. It could be worse. It could be life threatening. But then Steve would get to go home. It could be more dibalitating that it actually is. But it's not. It could be a condition that could get worse. But it doesn't. It can only get better. And we have a good life right now. We have a home. We have income. We get to be involved in ministry for God's Kingdom. We both have generally good health. We're not beaten. We're not persecuted. We're free. We have freedom to share the gospel with others. We actually have it pretty good.

And so, we thanked God for this unlikely blessing. It's been 2 weeks today since the paralysis happened. It's still frustrating for us as we're still adjusting to this malady. But we're trying to be positive and optimistic.

But we're both ready for complete healing to happen--more Steve than me. And if complete healing doesn't happen, God is still good and we'll still praise him.

And so we keep walking...

What's been happening in our lives~

In May we traveled to Malibu to attend the Pepperdine Lectureships. We attended classes and were encouraged by our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also reconnected with good friends.

In June we traveled to Washington to visit Jewel's family. We spent a week hanging out with her brother and his family and their dad. Jewel's dad retired from commercial fishing in March. So, we spent some time helping him with his new hobby~ gardening. We were inspired to someday start our own organic "farm" in order to help those in the church and in the community. And if we're able to increase our income in this way, then we're excited for that as a bonus, too!

We also got to spend some time with other married couples in the church for a weekend. We spent some time encouraging each other and building relationships.

In July, we stayed around the area spending time looking for our own place. We were staying with Steve's parents. So, thankfully, so friends connected us with a lady just outside of Grass Valley and we moved into our new apartment August 1. It's a small studio apartment, but it's within our budget and our landlady is a blessing!

August we celebrated Steve's dad's birthday and Steve's niece's birthday. We had a good time celebrating life with Steve's family.

It's now September. Jewel had her 33rd birthday. Or rather she celebrated her 21st birthday for the 12th time. :) And we'll soon celebrate Steve's mom's birthday this week.

In that time Steve's been teaching the high school class on Sunday mornings. Jewel was co-facilitating the Wednesday night gals' class as well as working at a boy's group home. Steve is still teaching, Wednesday night classes have been postponed for the time being and Jewel has since quit her job and found a new one. Jewel's job was very stressful and taking a toll on her emotional and physical health. So, God has since blessed her with another job for the time being. It's only seasonal, but it's something with less stress and pays about the same.

In all of this, these last few months we have been walking by faith. Some days it seemed hard. Ok, most days it was hard. But throughout all of the difficulties, we were reminded by friends how God is faithful and never gives us more than we can handle. So, we continued to walk by faith and God still stays faithful.

...Under the Sun

Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun. He concluded Ecclesiastes with

"Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil."

But not everything is meaningless, although these last several months have been hard for me (Jewel), I still serve a good God. Since losing most of our support last year, I got a job. I finally got a full time job working as a type of caregiver for teen boys who have experienced some emotional and/or physical trauma that requires some mental health care. It's been mostly a stressful job with some rewarding conversations about Jesus, salvation and baptism. But I think the time has come to find another job. The stress that comes with this job has taken an affect on my health. I've put in a position transfer request at my work, but I think I just need to find a new place to work. I know the boys need Jesus, and I've had those conversations with them.... I just think I am not in a place myself to give to these boys when I need to be taking care of my own emotional health first. If I'm not healthy, then how can I truly help others who need it? (Thanks to my sister for reminding me of that and thank, Miss Betty for sharing that with the ladies you teach and mentor)

So, what's not healthy about me? I've been struggling with my self-esteem and depression for a while. Basically, attacks from Satan. It seems like in January there was just major disappointment after major disappointment--you know, culture shock. And not feeling connected to the church didn't help. Since having actually moved to Grass Valley, I'm feeling a bit more connected now that we're closer in physical proximity.

So, what about West Coast Missions? Well, we didn't start our first class this fall. We really need another family/couple to move here to be a part of this ministry. It's just too much for us and the Hooper's to take on. So, WCM is on hold until we can get some more people out here to help us. We've thought about moving forward with just the 2 families, but we believe it's the wiser decision to wait until we have the necessary people to be in this with us so we don't overwork ourselves. So, we've been praying that things will "fall into place" so that we can have a class next year. We do have students interested in WCM, but we want to be able to give them the best of ourselves and give out of the overflow rather than overworking ourselves.

So, in the meantime Steve has been preaching when needed and he also teaches the youth on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I've been helping teach on Wednesday nights, but that's going to be put on hold since not many people have been coming on Wednesdays and with the days getting shorter, even less people come.

Steve and I have been reading through the Book of Romans together each week and being reminded of God's grace and love and how we can apply those scriptures and principles to our lives. I miss being fully involved in ministry like we were with AIM, but I know that the Lord has plans for us and that each difficulty and joy that we go through will be a blessing to us and a benefit to others. Thank you for being a blessing to us through your words of encouragement, your financial support and more importantly through your prayers to God on our behalf. This ministry wouldn't be possible without your help (and of course, without God!)

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• For a new/different job for Jewel
• Jewel's emotional health
• For a fixer-upper house to buy
• SUPPORT!
• A family/couple to join the West Coast Missions team