So I'm reading this novel by Randy Alcorn (christian based author - http://www.epm.org) titled 'Safely Home'. It's a book about the persecuted church in China. My Dad bought this book for me when he was up a few weeks ago. Although this is a fiction book with fiction characters, the story line of house churches in China and Christians imprisoned for their belief in our God is very real today.
What's so neat to me is how God uses a fiction book like this one, to teach me so many new things about who He is and how He opens my eyes to things in the world I miss so easily (sad to say). I really haven't ever been too interested in China for any reason and it's just not a place that comes to mind much. But in opening the website I often visit, http://www.christianitytoday.com, there's an article on exactly the human rights issues and persecuted church in China today!
The human rights issues in China, and the fact that I know their are real believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, who are being tortured and imprisoned for their faith...the reality of this has just really hit my heart. There are so many believers persecuted daily for their faith in many places of the world, and I'm ashamed to admit that I don't think of it very often. I am too comfortable in this country where I can worship my God freely and openly where ever I please. Where I can sing my heart out to God anywhere I feel and no one can arrest me for it. How is it that we can have all the freedom to worship and meet and pray together, yet it seems that when we do, it feels like sometimes the time together is not 'quality time' with God. Now I realize I would need to explain what 'quality' is in my mind, but I don't feel like getting into everything at this exact time. There are people in China right now (and all over the world) who are suffering for their faith in ways I would never imagine would happen. We take advantage of where we live today.
We are too comfortable in North America. We are amazingly blessed to live in our country and I really feel a need to pray for China, for the believers and nonbelievers there. For the people in the government there, that those in leadership would come to know who God is. That he would begin to work in the hearts of those that need Him the most in their lives to transform them and renew them through His grace.
We need to pray for those who are locked up and suffering for their faith. They are an amazing testimony to all believers, God bless them for their faithfulness. I only hope I can be so faithful.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The plan...
So I saw the oral surgeon this past Tuesday.
It felt great to finally have a discussion with him and know exactly what the plan is to fix my jaw.
It turns out I'm going to have upper and lower jaw surgery. It's all done at the same time so it doesn't really change much about the recovery time. I still won't have surgery for at least a year and most likely longer.
I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on April 17th and then getting my braces on the following Friday April 24th! So here I go!! I'm so ready to get this started and over with as soon as possible! I can hardly wait to have a normal functioning jaw. The good thing is the surgery itself is actually covered by health care. The down side is the work up process (pre-op pictures and everything else before the sx) is not covered. And it's a heck of a lot of cash. I'll be working two jobs for at least the next two years I'm sure.
That's the update for now! I'm so thankful to have gotten a for sure start on this now. Great news is, I can still sing as much as I want! So I can stay happy during this process haha.
Thanks for checking in!
It felt great to finally have a discussion with him and know exactly what the plan is to fix my jaw.
It turns out I'm going to have upper and lower jaw surgery. It's all done at the same time so it doesn't really change much about the recovery time. I still won't have surgery for at least a year and most likely longer.
I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on April 17th and then getting my braces on the following Friday April 24th! So here I go!! I'm so ready to get this started and over with as soon as possible! I can hardly wait to have a normal functioning jaw. The good thing is the surgery itself is actually covered by health care. The down side is the work up process (pre-op pictures and everything else before the sx) is not covered. And it's a heck of a lot of cash. I'll be working two jobs for at least the next two years I'm sure.
That's the update for now! I'm so thankful to have gotten a for sure start on this now. Great news is, I can still sing as much as I want! So I can stay happy during this process haha.
Thanks for checking in!
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Beginning!
I'm finally getting started on a blog to update on my jaw process! For anyone who's reading this has doesn't really know what the story is here's a little summary....
A few years ago I started getting a lot of ear pain due to my jaw. I didn't think this was anything serious so I waited two years until I went to see a jaw specialist. By that time I had a lot more pain including daily headaches, ear popping/plugging, and difficulty chewing almost any normal food!
I saw the jaw specialist in May 2008. At that time I was barely able to sing without suffering horrible headaches afterwards. I began physio which including accupuncture twice a week with a lot of jaw stretching as well. I went twice a week for about 2 months. After my jaw muscles started to settle a bit I also went for a bone scan, CT scan, and MRI. I continued going to physio once a week for a couple more months then eventually down to every two weeks and at this point I haven't been to physio since the end of November '08. It's been nice to have a break and so far my jaw is doing quite well as far as muscle tension and pain. So that has been a huge blessing.
My tests showed that I have degenerative dics on both sides of my jaw joints. Because of this my upper jaw has been moving forward and causing more of an overbite. This is causing a lot of issues with my jaw function and when it all comes down to it, if I don't have something done to fix this problem now the prediction is I could lose the ability to use my jaw 'normally' in the future.
So this is the treatment plan for the next couple years of my life!
1) Meet with my oral surgeon - which I'm doing on February 24th! (moved up from June '09, such a huge blessing!)
2) Get my wisdom teeth out
3) Braces on (for approx 8 months or so...?)
4) With braces on I will have orthognathic surgery (lower jaw surgery)
5) Braces are predicted to be on for 4 -6 months from my surgery.
So, we'll see how this all goes! I'm very eager to get this all started with and done with so I can be normal again! (normal enough..)
I'm going to update this regularly to let you all know what's happening since it's such a long process! Thank you to all of you who are supporting me and praying for me through this process! You don't know how much it means to me!
A few years ago I started getting a lot of ear pain due to my jaw. I didn't think this was anything serious so I waited two years until I went to see a jaw specialist. By that time I had a lot more pain including daily headaches, ear popping/plugging, and difficulty chewing almost any normal food!
I saw the jaw specialist in May 2008. At that time I was barely able to sing without suffering horrible headaches afterwards. I began physio which including accupuncture twice a week with a lot of jaw stretching as well. I went twice a week for about 2 months. After my jaw muscles started to settle a bit I also went for a bone scan, CT scan, and MRI. I continued going to physio once a week for a couple more months then eventually down to every two weeks and at this point I haven't been to physio since the end of November '08. It's been nice to have a break and so far my jaw is doing quite well as far as muscle tension and pain. So that has been a huge blessing.
My tests showed that I have degenerative dics on both sides of my jaw joints. Because of this my upper jaw has been moving forward and causing more of an overbite. This is causing a lot of issues with my jaw function and when it all comes down to it, if I don't have something done to fix this problem now the prediction is I could lose the ability to use my jaw 'normally' in the future.
So this is the treatment plan for the next couple years of my life!
1) Meet with my oral surgeon - which I'm doing on February 24th! (moved up from June '09, such a huge blessing!)
2) Get my wisdom teeth out
3) Braces on (for approx 8 months or so...?)
4) With braces on I will have orthognathic surgery (lower jaw surgery)
5) Braces are predicted to be on for 4 -6 months from my surgery.
So, we'll see how this all goes! I'm very eager to get this all started with and done with so I can be normal again! (normal enough..)
I'm going to update this regularly to let you all know what's happening since it's such a long process! Thank you to all of you who are supporting me and praying for me through this process! You don't know how much it means to me!
