Second Guessing Our Blessings

Dear Lord; Good evening Father!

As You’re aware Father, I’ve struggled with high blood pressure for quite some years now.  It’s one of the few true health issues I’ve had, but has always been reasonably well controlled through medication.  Therefore, other than the ritual of taking my pill each day I’ve for the most part been able to forget that the problem exists.

Until a month ago.

Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, Shannon and I lost our health care insurance effective the beginning of April.  We’ve been researching a number of options to correct it, but so far none have been found that fits our needs or our budget.  Thankfully, Shannon’s medications are all generics and therefore reasonable to purchase without the insurance, however my blood pressure prescription is not which makes it a bit expensive.  On top of that, our Primary Care Physician closed his practice at the end of February, so my options for looking into alternate medications are extremely limited.  Weighing all these items in my head, I therefore made a decision to try and go without the blood pressure pills for a while, and see how I made out.

This was not one of my better ideas Father.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, my BP slowly began to rise and I started reverting to the pre-medication days where ringing in my ears, headaches and uncomfortable chest pains were the norm.  I of course prayed for relief Lord, oh I prayed, but the symptoms continued to get worse.

Then I realized Father, You’d already given me relief, I’d just decided to stop taking advantage of it.

Your solution for me hadn’t changed Father, I was simply trying to second guess You by looking for an “easier” option.  Just because the remedy was a more difficult path than it used to be didn’t mean it still wasn’t the proper choice.  As the Apostle Paul reminded us in First Corinthians:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

Needless to say, I went and bought the medication and started taking it last Saturday.  It’ll take a week or so to level me out again, but I’ve already started feeling somewhat better.

Heavenly Father, please help me keep focused on Your Blessings and true plan for me each day.  Guide my decisions to honor Your Will, and direct my gaze to not seek answers outside Your Wishes.  Amen.

~Phather Phil