Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

• Isaiah 25:3-4

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
    if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

• Proverbs 6:1-5

This is a chicken or egg kind of issue.  Is my brain fog due to irregular sleep patterns or are irregular sleep pattern the result of brain fog?  I could care less, but I would prefer things getting “regular.”  I put “regular” in quotes in that digestive issues can cause brain fog, and for that matter irregular sleep patterns, but talking about that is simply disgusting!!  Why did you ever bring that up?  Oh, I did?!

The choice of Scriptures shows that God can provide the rest we need, but if we have committed ourselves to helping neighbors, we should work tirelessly, regardless of how tired we really get.  The two Scriptures are not mutually exclusive.  God sometimes gives us just enough rest to keep going, but not enough to lift the fog between our ears.

When my wife had surgery to have half her thyroid and parathyroid removed, the surgeon asked about brain fog.  We said that she had so much before the surgery, how could you tell?!!?  It seems brain fog can be caused by not completely coming out of the anesthesia.

But my wife thought she had Alzheimer’s, and she convinced a neurologist of the same thing, but then on the next test, she did so much better that he took her off the Alzheimer’s medicine.  No one recovers that much from that dreadful disease.

But the one thing with my brain fog that I can do is write.  Again, a chicken or egg question arises.  Does it show that God has truly called me to write in that the brain fog only bothers every other aspect of my life or is my writing contributing to the brain fog?

But I am thinking more about the disgusting digestive issue.  My IBS issues have cropped up again.  I thought it was the trace of onion powder in some tacos, then I have been very faithful to the extremely restrictive diet lately and I have still had attacks.  Aftershock two weeks later?  I doubt it.

But then, I have worked through my wife’s birthday, Veterans’ Day (one of her favorite holidays due to free food), and the approach of Thanksgiving.  That would cause sleepless nights, or minimal sleep, and it might give me nausea most of the day.  And both of those come with my usual sinus problems this time of year.  And is it really brain fog or a very low-grade sinus headache?  Okay, look up the cause’s of brain fog, and I probably have over half of them.

So, what do I do about it?  Do what I always do.  Trust God and put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.