Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
    heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.

• Psalm 6:2

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
    save me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.

• Jeremiah 17:14

But I will restore you to health
    and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord,
‘because you are called an outcast,
    Zion for whom no one cares.’

• Jeremiah 30:17

“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.

• Jeremiah 33:6

On the day that I wrote this morning’s Bible study and this short note, I had been horribly ill.

I awoke early, unable to go back to sleep.  I felt okay, but something was off.

I started writing while doing a load of laundry, but I had one interruption after another with urges to go to the bathroom.

I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but so far, I have only identified onion and garlic as the things that set it off.

I had not cheated lately…

Oh wait!  I have noticed that if onion powder or garlic powder are below the “less than 2%” line in the ingredients and I do not eat more than one serving size, I have no bad results.  I had a bowl of soup the night before.

So, was that measurement off my list?  Then I remembered that I had tostadas the night before that.  I made my own taco seasoning, but the chili powder had a small amount of garlic powder.  And the amount of garlic powder had to be miniscule.  Just so much chili powder mixed with several other seasonings, then more meat than usual and to stretch the meat, a can of black beans was added.  Much less than 2% garlic powder over all before considering the mountain of lettuce, three tomatoes chopped, and I put a lot of cheese on top. And the tostadas also had sour cream and refried beans. Practically insignificant, or so I thought.  But since I had the tostadas to use up the taco meat from the previous day, I had indulged in my “cheating” three nights in a row: tacos, then tostadas, then soup.  I guess that means that my system hangs onto such things for a while.

I had always felt that even with a tiny amount, I probably had inflammation, just not enough to result in pain.

The pain came on gradually, and it took nearly 24 hours to be at full force.  So, the onset was different.

Now I know even more about my body, but I was toast.

I got the clothing put away in spite of the pain, but I have this weird reaction to abominable abdominal pains.  Those pains make my eyes water so that I cannot read anything, and it gives me a monster of a headache.  With having only done some of the scholarly quotes, I went to bed.

A few hours later, I awoke and felt good – also hungry.  I was not going to get crazy.  I had a few crackers.  Focus on “few” and “crackers.”

Within a few minutes, I was doubled over all over again.  What few braincells could work under these conditions, my brain said that there was no way that the crackers had reached the problem area yet.

After an extended period of time, I started to feel human again.  I took the trash out – that day of the week – and I went to the computer and got the work that I had planned on doing done.

Maybe none of this was a miracle, but I recovered from the IBS attack in record time.  No way was I going to eat even a cracker at that point.  I had mental clarity.  Usually when I have a nap, I am left with brain fog for a while.  And I hope my thought on this morning’s Bible Study makes sense, but I got finished in no time at all.  I can even relax a bit before going to bed.

Lord, I praise You. Whether it was a miracle or not, Lord, You answered my prayers.  All praise goes to You, including teaching me that I need to give my system a rest after eating tacos, even with my special taco seasoning.  In Your name I pray, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.