Skip to main content

God’s Sufficient Grace - and my “stroke-like symptoms”

Here is a little update on my health...
All of the neurology and rheumatology appointments went well and there was no pathological reason for a stroke, my brain and heart are all normal -praise God! A hair analysis did show heavy metals, and the neurologist said the symptoms were all “migraine-related” (did you know you can have a migraine without a headache?) The advice is to do a heavy-metal detox, take supplements like magnesium and Ubiquinol (among others), to have massage therapy, do stretches, and to rest more. My diagnosis was also changed from Lupus to Fibromyalgia-which have similar symptoms, but which means that there is no risk to organ damage or deterioration (I also have a congenital back problem which adds to the pain and stress on my body).

If you missed why I was seeing a Nuerologist in the first place, here is what I wrote in July:
I had a mini stroke or TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack), on Saturday June 22nd. Below is what I wrote on facebook: 

So, I was getting ready to go out yesterday, pushing through how I was feeling (like jet-leg), when my husband stood behind me and noticed my face in the mirror. The left side of my face wasn’t moving the same as the right. He asked my mom to bring me to the ER while he brought kids for their field trip... after a CT scan and exam by a neurologist, I was diagnosed as having had a small stroke.
Most of you know that I have lupus and my symptoms vary but are usually like arthritis, but I sometimes have “brain fog”. And you may know that the past couple of months my brain has been “worse” and I have had several migraines that I thought were from MSG (and may have been), I also blacked out about a month ago, but was going to wait until after our concert before seeing a doctor 😉 - until I had a stroke 😉 

I am at SMH, being thoroughly checked -have had an MRI, will have a spinal tap, had an ultrasound of my heart, and several rounds of blood work. The neurologist is looking for the cause of the stroke and/or confirming that it is a lupus-related stroke (meaning that this lupus “flare up”, as an autoimmune disease, is attacking the DNA of my brain rather than the DNA of my joints or liver or other organ, as happens with lupus. (Though, now, I am being told that Lupus is not the right diagnosis -and more tests are needed)

Please pray for wisdom and answers and of course healing. Right now, I feel “fine” except for a low-grade migraine and a little “brain fog”.  We are surrounded by God’s presence and peace and appreciate your prayers! Thank you!
(AND, please plan to come out to the concert Thursday, I hope to be there too!)

Thank you for praying for me! I am getting back to normal, and the migraine is gone! (Left



with some residual headache). Waiting to see rheumatologist in the morning before being discharged from hospital (praying for early morning!)

“Although the precise pathophysiology responsible is not completely understood, several mechanisms have been hypothesised; in this context, inflammation and endothelial cell activation and damage play a crucial role.” On stroke risk of under 50yr old women with Lupus...basically inflammation and other factors can cause a stroke or something like a stroke in people with Lupus. More to learn, especially for prevention, but so far, I know that I am otherwise “healthy” and not at any cardiovascular risk for stroke, MRI was clear, but the CT contrast scan showed “something”... pray for wisdom and provision in moving forward with keeping inflammation down and helping brain and body. Pray for complete healing of “brain fog”, migraine, fatigue, “arthritis” and of lupus in general!

I believe that I AM healed and have complete healing because of the Cross - I also know that while GOD DOES HEAL TODAY, HE IS NOT OBLIGED TO HEAL ME...He does EVERYTHING for HIS GLORY & for my ultimate and eternal good! He loves me and He offers grace that is sufficient...I have faith for healing, and also faith that God’s will and goodness and power are bigger and are sovereign over even my faith (ie any “lack of faith” cannot stop GOD’s power or Will!). I am filled with peace and JOY and can worship Him both in the pain and in the relief of pain! 

I also know that while God receives glory in using my life, He does not NEED me. I cannot say that “it can’t be my time to die because I am not finished what God called me to” for example; He has planned the exact times and places for me and HE DELIGHTS in my delighting in and serving Him, but He does not need me. And, I am SO GLAD! It takes a lot of pressure off -especially when I was the one  “planning” our benefit concert. The concert doesn’t depend on me, because the work doesn’t depend on me, because GOD DOESN’T DEPEND ON ME. BUT, AS LONG AS I DO HAVE BREATH, I WILL STRIVE TO USE IT FOR HIS GLORY AND WILL DO THE TASK HE HAS GIVEN ME, with His strength and with the zeal of it being the task assigned to me “as if it depended on me” (while also learning to delegate, work as a team when God provides people, and trust that He will raise leaders up)... ( somehow that makes sense to me)

Therefore, I will run with ENDURANCE, the race that is set before me, FIXING MY EYES ON JESUS, the AUTHOR and PERFECTOR of faith, who for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, despising it’s shame ... 

Please keep praying, come out to worship with us on Thursday if you are in B.C.! Take up the cause of the orphan! And, while you have breath, do what God has set before you, and do it with all of your strength as unto Him! Time is short! 



Reader’s Favourites

Did God REALLY say He created everything in 6-morning-to-evening (literal) days? Is it essential to Christian Ministry & Education that He did?

The Father’s Heart Foundation’s beliefs and core values (link at bottom) , as well as our vision for Christian education and discipleship, are founded not just on a general “Christian” belief system and moral code, but are grounded in a biblical worldview -a complete, biblical world view that begins with Genesis. I will add footnotes * for a few points, but for others, you may use your own research to check - also, as a note, most of my knowledge on this subject is from personal research over several years - hence the lack of footnotes ;) .   In creating a culture - with a goal of creating a biblical and godly culture- we need a blueprint and a foundation... As is needed in creating anything from a lego structure to an apartment building, we all need a blue print, and we need to start with a solid foundation. We need an understanding of God’s Word for a solid biblical foundation. So, then, as Christians, we need to know “what is foundational”? What is “fundamental”? And...
Read more

In an INSTANT world, am I willing to work & wait -even a lifetime- for anything?

I just came across this old post from September 2010, and was reminded again of the need to be patient and diligent; to not give up! I could never have imagined the waiting and trials and testing of our faith that we would still have to walk through over the next 7 years - to date. And, I know that there will still be waiting, and testing and trials to come! There have been times, when I DO want to give up, but we know that God has called us to execute this vision, and we refuse to give up! He is with us in the waiting, and has been sovereign over it all -looking back, we now know some of the reasons why we had to go through some of the trials, and the waiting. We HOPE, that in 2018, we will finally be able to move to the village, where we have been sharing the Gospel and discipling people, and that we will be more effective there. AND, that we will finally be able to do staff training, and bring in our first orphaned children. We will not give up! I just read this encourage...
Read more

Citizens of Heaven: reflections on how the lack of speaking and understanding a language make me a foreigner.

I have experienced life as a foreigner in varying degrees over the majority of my life, probably beginning on my first short term missions trip (to Uganda) 22 years ago (yes, 22 years…yikes!). I don’t recall feeling so much a foreigner on that trip, but I was changed, and became a distinct “foreigner” upon my return to Canada. I think it was then that I began to learn how to die to myself and began to desire to live out James 1:27 (in it’s entirety – I yearned to live out true religion by taking care of orphans and widows AND by remaining unpolluted by the secular world) *note: I am far from perfect, and simultaneously began a fight against sin, as once convicted of something, once one knows the good that they should do and they do not do it, they then sin… the struggle against the flesh is real, but with every victory, as sin is put to death and as I choose to live life in the Spirit, I am learning more and more how to live a life separate from the world.     ...
Read more

Angels and Demons - waking to an African War Cry in the village

The New testament of the Bible retells several stories of Jesus casting out demons, and also of visitations by angels. The demonic is something that Christians in North America oft stay away from, and I have never written about my own experiences with seeing the power of God triumph over evil, although many have heard me tell at least one story of an encounter with the enemy, and seeing the power of God displayed with the Sword of the Spirit, which IS the Word of God… Now that we have recently returned from Uganda, and we were retelling one story, I have decided to post some of the story here. This is not a theological debate, nor even the complete story (with all of its details), but is my own personal experience with a recent spiritual battle, and some of the truths of God’s Word which I was impressed to read during this battle. It was late one evening, in our village home in Uganda. The children and I had gone to bed early compared to the rest of the family, who normally ...
Read more

Book Trailer. Living in the Shadow of Death: From a Child of War to an A...

It has been 15 months since our first book launch (November 2017)! After being able to share the story with Samuel’s family - reading it to them in the village, as we sat under the stars, outside of our mud hut with grass-thatched roof - we have decided to edit the title and a few small details, and to print it again. The book is on Amazon and Kindle - and coming to iBooks and bookstores soon! Click here to see our Amazon Author Page
Read more

“Palm Sunday”. Thinking about Worship, “social distancing” & examining ourselves and our Gospel message

Psalm 139:23, 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” 2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?  Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem by a crowd full of people singing and rejoicing over miracles. When Nicodemus came to Jesus and said that they (the Jewish leaders) knew that He must be from God because of the signs/miracles, Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)  The Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah, and the entire Old Testament is full of messianic prophesies - on the road to Emmeaus, after His resurrection, Jesus went through the entire scripture to teach that it was all about Himself. The mes...
Read more

Contending for the Faith, Discerning Doctrines, and a Scriptural Mandate for Judging Rightly

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (from the book of Jude) I fellowship with, minister with, and would never publicly criticize believers of different denominations, worship styles, and cultures, who believe the biblical Gospel and believe in the biblical Christ; even if they differ on non-foundational doctrines - or are different denominations. We are called to love each other and to be unified as Christ’s body. The purpose of any facebook posts and of this blog was and is to encourage believers to test everything against the Word of God, and to beware of false teaching and false teachers - who do not...
Read more

If my Prayers Drew Blood

I have been looking through an old journal (2007) and have felt convicted to live out more of my past persuasion, and to not become complacent nor stagnant. Here is a note that I wrote about [imagination and] prayer, which I need to re-arrange my life to pursue more: "When one has an imagination like mine, it is often best not to to recall certain things, [like news] spoken second-hand. Yet, some thoughts and especially prayers must be suffered through. I wonder what thoughts, what painful knowledge was so burdened on Jesus that while praying, He was caused to bleed. AT TIMES I CHOOSE TO EVEN REFRAIN FROM PRAYING, ONLY TO SAVE MYSELF SOME REALLY INSIGNIFICANT PAIN, AND AT WHAT COST? If my prayers were so fervent that they actually drew blood then perhaps they would be more effective! "
Read more

Hope for those in the "depths of despair"

I should be packing for a missions trip right now, but instead I am sitting down with a storied glass of wine and opera music. I am not accustomed to listening to opera, although I think I have enjoyed it most of my life. It can soothe the emotional side of the soul, but can also dangerously feed into certain emotions - I think (dependent on lyrics maybe too). But alas, I am inclined to listen to a few songs right now, before switching to my usual playlist -  as I reflect on recent news of those in my circle of friends who are mourning loss and questioning life, as someone they know has chosen to take their own life.  The decision to take one’s own life has affected my family very personally, as have other choices which inevitably lead to the ending of life. It makes me reflect on my own life, on the subject of depression, and of my own personal experience with depression. I have so many thoughts on this subject and have read numerous books on the topic, my favo...
Read more

reflections on airports and travel (written in 2003)

Departures Written by Charity Pilkey, April 2003  To every photograph, there exits the negative from which the subject was derived. And here stand many subjects. Some would think themselves the photographer, or more defined as the photojournalist. Others, of course, are the born model. While some still, would rather not be depicted as either. But all are indeed, to me and my purpose, if not in reality  the subject. The subjects in a photograph taken here, before each one’s destination, and yet also, after their arrival. Each one has a negative; a strip like that of a comic, but more properly described as a slide-show. And whether their departure is but for a little while or if it is expected to be for an eternity, there will exist forever in their mind’s eye, this place of departure and the happenings that brought them here. This place where everyone holds ready their passport, will be stamp now in each one’s  life passport . A stamp which cannot be erased....
Read more