Tag: Guillain Barre survivor

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What have you learned from the Covid19 Quarantine?

My Quarantine version of Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
As I navigate the lonely paths of Covid19, The Lord will be my guide and His presence is all I need
Whether I think it is needed or not, I will use this time for rest and quiet reflection.
So that my soul can be refreshed
As He guides me where He wants me to be used bring Glory and honor to His name.
Even though I walk
through the valley of people wearing masks
I will fear no evil,
He gives my faith confidence so that I can go or do wherever He feels the need to send me.
Knowing even in self-isolation you are with me and won’t forsake me.
Like the shepherds’ rod and staff, your Word and the Holy Spirit will teach and comfort me.
Even in the midst of my adversity, You will abundantly provide all that I need so that I will it be afraid.
Like an anointing, You will bless and protect me from whatever evil that wants to prey on me.
You will fill me with your spirit so that cup of love you want me to share overflows.
I count and trust on the contentment of your love for as long as I am to live.
This assurance brings joy knowing that I will be welcomed and will forever dwell in the house that you went and prepared for me.


Quarantine is hard. I started writing this Friday. What happened to TGIF? Hello! Who else finds themselves asking, “What does it matter that is the weekend? It is another day just like yesterday and the day before, and the day before.” I then ask God, “in the midst of all that is going on, how am I to remain, “thankful in all things?”
A friend’s family recently spent a week on the eastern shore of Virginia for what I found out was their annual spiritual retreat. I loved the idea of it yet realized, that is something I have never intentionally done for an extended period of time. The key word I realized was intentionally because my circumstances have now provided two recent seasons of spiritual retreat. Last year, Guillain Barre Syndrome stopped me in my tracks physically. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelguthrieThis year my Covid19 self-isolation due to my GBS compromised immune system has provided another 5 months of elongated down time for introspection of who I am before God. I read Isaiah 40:31 differently this week. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

Notice it says those who WAIT. Webster defines wait this way. “stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens” or “a period of time used to indicate that one is eagerly impatient to do something or for something to happen.” I am sure all of us in some way or another are experiencing the angst of waiting. I hear folks say all the time, “if I just knew when this would all be over it would be so much easier to manage”. Yet wait in this verse means something much more. The Barnes bible commentary unpacks it this way. “The word rendered ‘wait upon’ here (from קוה qâvâh), denotes properly to wait, in the sense of expecting. The phrase, ‘to wait on Yahweh,’ means to wait for his help; that is, to trust in him, to put our hope or confidence in him. It is applicable to those who are in circumstances of danger or want, and who look to him for his merciful interposition.“He refers to those who were suffering a long and grievous captivity in Babylon but this phrase is applicable also to all who feel, because of this uncertainty, that they are weak, feeble, guilty, and helpless.” God says wait and trust in Me. Waiting does not mean doing nothing, Barnes continues, “It does not imply inactivity or laziness, it implies merely that our hope of aid and salvation is in him – a feeling that is as consistent with the most strenuous endeavors to secure the object”. “What are you doing while you wait? Will you look back when (please Lord) this is over with a feeling that you used this time of waiting well?

There are so many stories out there of people who have done extraordinary things in periods of time out. Shakespeare wrote King Lear,’ ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ as London reeled from the foiled Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and an outbreak of the bubonic plague the following year. Paul wrote the epistles Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon from his Rome prison cell. Isaac Newton discovered gravity during an 18 month quarantine. I recently watched Glenn Lundy http://Www.glennlundy.com interview Joe Buckner who spent time in prison. He shared he had no idea that his journaling during his confinement would turn into 2 books and help him become successful in business.https://yorkathleticsmfg.com/blogs/loversandfighters/beautifully-savage-the-joe-buckner-story

It is up to you. You can succumb to feeling sorry for yourself wishing that things could be different or will you wait on the Lord? When we do, He promises to “lift you up with a renewed strength. Allowing you to soar high on wings like eagles. You will go out ready to serve without growing weary” even if it is from the confines of your home using Zoom, phone or mailed hand written notes. You might even drop curbside pick up things on people’ porches.

Who knows. Maybe you will write a book, a blog people read ?, or invent the next greatest thing. What I can tell you is just commit to making a difference and your part of the world will be better for it. If you do nothing else, the time you spent waiting on the Lord will have been time well spent. It’s not too late. As in another place in Isaiah, wait and listen for “the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And be willing to say, “Here am I. Send me!”

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Plateaus-Then and Now

There has been so much written about the Mountaintop and Valley experiences of life. There are many devotionals and books written that talk about “the need for the mountain top exhilaration so that we are able to navigate the many valleys that come our way in our day to day lives” I found this to be especially true both at the outset of my Guillain Barre and now in my recovery from this crazy auto-immune system disorder. It was 16 days before I saw any significant movement anywhere on my otherwise motionless body. The doctors and nurses all said I was improving but there was not any clear signs of that progress. I certainly was glad the progression had stopped short of my diaphram as I had no interest in being incubated. Once the diagnosis was made, I started Plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) on March 3rd. I was told some parts of me would start moving a bit between the 3rd and 4th of 5 treatments which were every other day. The last one occured on March 11th with no such signs. I was discharged to a rehab facility from the hospital on March 13th. “How could this be happening”, we asked. The answer was you are getting better and there is nothing else we can do to help you at this point. Just like walking on a plateau, you travel a distance and feel like you have not really made much progress. This was certainly true for me. It is easy to get discouraged when you hit a stabilized point in recovery. In one sense, you are relieved that you are not getting worse but you find yourself fighting the advice to be patient, “you are and will get better”. Trusting and putting my hope in the Lord along with leaning on and appreciating those who were cheering me on got me through those days and kept me from the fear of thinking, “what if I don’t get better?” On March 17th (St Patrick’s Day), my arms moved over my head. I am not sure what made me think they would, all of a sudden, there they were. I even scratched my head as I lowered them.

https://thankfulinallthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/moving-my-arms-video_Trim-1.mp4

Things took off from there. My body started waking up and the recovery process was nothing short of miraculous. When I was admitted to the rehab facility, they noted in their records that they expected me to be there until the end of June and leave using a walker. Praise God. I went home on April 25 with the assistance of a cane. Within a couple of weeks I was walking in the neighborhood.

https://thankfulinallthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/walking-in-the-neighborhood.mp4

I have continued to recover over these last 8 months. The doctors and physical therapists say I am at about 80%. Given that the data shows it takes 6 months to 2 years, this is pretty good progress 🙂 and yet, I feel like I have now reached a new plateau. My weight loss has slowed and I still need to rest in the middle of the day and call it a day early in the evening. I can get discouraged but thankfully my positive can do attitude, the support and encouragement of family and friends, the prayers of so many being answered and substantiating my faith in a healing God keeps me going. Like on any journey, I just need to look back to where I started to see how far I have come to be reminded that I am indeed blessed. It allows me to know that I will once again move upward toward the next plateau.

one must look back to get a sense of how far they have come.
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Things happen for a reason and Good Things can come from it. “All because of a cookie”

Romans 8:28 New International Version (NIV). 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

Karen Scott writes, ” Sometimes, just a few minutes of time and attention is all the gift another person needs. Sometimes, you get the opportunity to communicate with another person that you value them, that they matter are important, that you hope that their lives matter in light of eternity. Never doubt that a gift of your time and attention is valuable. You can hold it in your hand or choose to give it away”

I am a staunch believer in “the ripple effect” of life. As the title of this post suggests, I also believe things happen for a reason and “there is a silver lining in every cloud”. My journey through adversity via my battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome did nothing to dampen that belief. Why? My family and I experienced 1st hand people choosing to give away their time and attention so that they could encourage and support us. My life has also been made different by GBS. As I have written before, I hope I will always remember the positive things that have occured because of this now almost 8 month recovery process. Out of the dark clouds of what was a significant health challenge came new friends, deeper existing relationships, a renewed commitment for taking care of myself, and stories about other people’s lives being made better because of how we inspired or cared for them in some way.

Here is one little tiny story of how the Lord used my illness and the offer of a cookie- Taken from an email from a friend. “One day, there was this Christian man at a local Health and Rehab facility, being cared for by a friend who was a CNA.  This man with GBS offered her a delicious cookie, she asked who made it, you mentioned the name of a friend . . . and shooting stars went off.   :-)))  This patient didn’t know about a long relationship between the CNA and the cookie maker. However, one VBS evening at Abundant Life in July, when I was looking for more children to round-up, there was the CNA and we had a big hug and quick reunion-style chat about meeting the Christian man, the cookie, and reconnecting with the person who chose to take the time to make cookies for the patient.  She also happened to mention proudly that her daughter loves to read the Bible and loves to read it aloud to her!  Wow, so encouraging . . .  so the twins did do a few nights of VBS and loved it.”  The email went on to say it didn’t stop there. My friend asked the CNA, “have you ever thought about sending the twins to a Christian school?” . . . She was interested, but cautious about what it would cost……

Fast forward a few more weeks and only a couple of brief texts . . . and suddenly, God brought it all together and there were enough scholarships left at a local private school for both of the CNA’s daughter to enroll! 

The moral to this true story is, if you get the chance, don’t hold back the cookie, your time, or whatever else you can offer. Instead give it away and be time and time again amazed at how your gesture will be turned into good many times over.