The Body Believes You

A reflection on healing, faith, and the conversation between mind and body.

I am healed!

At least that’s what I have been proclaiming.

I used to experience stomach issues so often, the sickness became a part of my identity. I’ve since tried some advice from Instagram philosophers (or maybe just influencers)—

Do not own the illness. Do not say, “I have this or that malady.”

Instead, say something like, “I’m getting over” whatever the issue is. I am overcoming.

Since publishing 🔗 My Father’s Daughter, a memoir that lays bare the biggest secret of my past, I really can say, “I’m getting over these stomach issues I’ve suffered for quite a while.”

Just a few days ago, I was encouraging a friend with similar issues, though her root cause might be coming from somewhere different from mine.

It’s not always secrets we are keeping tamped down, or at least not the same secret, but many times, something unresolved from our past causes a lump to grow bigger in the pit of our stomach.

“Some of this is in our heads,” I said to my friend. “That’s half the battle. We need to take control of this growing knot and not let it have such power over us.”

Both she & I had restricted so many foods in the past trying for the perfect balance that, 1, joy gets zapped and, 2, we’d get sick anyway.

I told her that, recently, I even tried talking to myself (might sound strange, I know); I saw somewhere (probably Instagram again) that our brain listens to us and acts accordingly. And if we speak negatively, like, “Eating this will make me sick,” it usually obliges.

If the brain listens to the negative self-talk, why wouldn’t it listen to the positive? And isn’t that an old philosophy anyway: the power of positive thinking? I’m changing it to positive talking and combining that with prayer to the One who created this body in the first place.

I started speaking. I started proclaiming that my body is designed to heal.

The Lord “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

As life goes, just as soon as I encouraged my friend and pretty much told her that I am healed:

“I can eat anything now and it’s so freeing.”

I got sick! 🫢

Kind of a doozy of a stomach bug where I had to hang my head over a bucket. Came with the dizziness and the pain that keeps you up all night.

At first, I went back to my old ways:

What did I eat?

Is this a gall bladder attack?

Am I diseased?

Will I ever be normal?

Then I started talking again: “Calm down, stomach.”

Deep breaths. “You will feel better in the morning.”

“People get sick. It’s part of life.”

“No health anxiety here.”

The Lord can sustain me while I am sick and restore health.

The morning came, and I laughed thinking of the conversation I had just had with my friend: “I can eat anything!” 🙄 Okay, maybe not anything. 😊

But I am not weak. I am getting stronger. I don’t have a weak stomach. I am getting over struggles with sensitivity.

I have some remedies that help: chicken soup broth has some kind of magical healing power, and you better believe I sipped some all day the next day.

I used all the essential oils too, Tresa Rolando Salters . And fennel tea.

And in case you want to try—I found some ginger mints with Vitamin B6 in them, and they are quite soothing.

Getting myself in front of nature and water helps the most. Thankfully, we don’t live far from a few lakes, and I talked my husband into taking me for the view.

In the past, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the car at all after such nausea, but this time, I bucked up and made myself do it for the reward. Parked myself in a lawn chair for a while and then walked a bit on the sand.

I tell this story for those who feel sick often for reasons other than straight-up physical ones.

Obviously, we all have real physical maladies, but sometimes we make ourselves sicker by both negative thinking or keeping our past all tied up inside.

And if you’ve read my stories, you know that I have been untangling much of my past and feeling freer and calmer now after dropping those ropes.

I am healed.

Hoping for that relief for you as well.

[❤️Liking & Sharing is a nice way to encourage writers. 😊]

[So is adding fuel to the creative process, i.e. COFFEE ☕]