Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Psalm 139:14 tells us, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (ESV)

David had many wonderful things to say about God and God’s Creation. He noted above that our humanity is the direct result of God’s Creative effort. But David is also noting that we human beings are literally a complete marvel of God’s Creation. Consider how our bodies work. We walk, we talk, we think, we can plan, invent things, and consider the possibilities that life has to offer. We contemplate the great mysteries of the universe. As Christians, we endeavor to submit ourselves to God for the working out of His good will and pleasure in and through us.

As human beings, we can literally enter into a living, vibrant relationship with the Creator of all things! When we stop to consider this, it is nothing short of remarkable. The last few chapters of the book of Job provide God’s response to Job. As we know, Job was considered blameless by God (Job 1), yet suffered terrible things at the hand of Satan, who was given permission by God Himself. In that sense then, God is responsible for what Job suffered and God had His reasons, not all of which are actually given to us in that book.

Throughout his suffering, more was added to Job via his so-called friends who wound up heaping more abuse and suffering onto Job than he rightly deserved. They thought they knew better than Job. They were convinced Job had sinned and in doing so, brought on his suffering. In Job 42:7, God points out the truth about Job’s friends and their accusations.

My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (ESV)

God declares Job’s friends were wrong. In order to be forgiven, they were instructed to offer sacrifices and Job would pray for them. This occurred. God also blessed Job doubly after that as well. Job lived to a ripe old age of somewhere around 200 or so and then died, full of years, more humbled, more obedient, and having gotten to know God more, not necessarily because of what he suffered but of what God revealed of Himself to Job through that suffering.

I think the average person will when I say that it is impossible to go through this life without suffering to some degree. Most of us know what it feels like to lose a loved one. Many understand the problems of having some sort of physical affliction that seems to have no name. On the broader scale, we suffer of course because we humans invited sin into this world through our first parents, Adam and Eve. Had they not embraced the lies of Satan, sin would never have gained a foot hold. Lest you want to blame them, consider that in all likelihood, you and I would’ve done the exact same thing in their place. Creatures with free will tend to naturally move away from God’s rule.

Regardless, sin entered the world and death by sin (Romans 5:12-21). Sin has caused many problems in the world. It caused spiritual death immediately and physical death eventually. It brought about all sorts of maladies and physical, emotional, and mental manifestations that are the direct result of the sin problem even if people didn’t sin individually themselves, yet all have sinned (Romans 3:23)

We also all have a genetic code and it is faulty. We are born with it. We live with it and if the perfect situation arises, those faulty genetics will create all sorts of physical, emotional, and mental problems for us.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I have repeatedly talked about my journey back to health. A number of years ago, I was 80 pounds overweight. That is obese for my height. However, I would look in the mirror and deny it. I was a bit “thick” but not obese, I’d say. I couldn’t walk that far without experiencing a great deal of shortness of breath and exhaustion. I told myself it was asthma or allergies.

Finally, I began to realize that things were wrong, simply by the amount of blood pressure medication I was taking. At one point I was on a total of five different medications to place and keep my blood pressure under control. I also realize now that I had virtually no neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters are the chemicals which allow the transmission of signals from one neuron to the next across synapses [in the brain – ed]. They are also found at the axon endings of motor neurons, where they stimulate the muscle fibers. And they and their close relatives are produced by some glands such as the pituitary and the adrenal glands.

Without these chemicals, our brains will not work properly. If our brains are not working properly, the toll on our bodies becomes evident since the brain is the control center of our bodies.

I have come a very long way in my health. I now hover around 175 (started off at 255), and I would like to get down to below 170, but we’ll see how things go.

I have also become very adept at listening to the signals in my body. For instance, I know when I’ve eaten something that isn’t good for me. Looking back over the years, I now also know why there has been this near-constant “swishing” sound in my brain and/or a type of numbness at the very top of my head. It is during these times, I realize now that my neurotransmitter production is very low. The results of this swishing or numbness in my brain is immediately noticed in how I feel. I start feeling irritable, anxious, annoyed, lethargic, and I also sense a slight depression or “blue” feeling coming on. This is all related to the lack of neurotransmitters.

Did you know that neurotransmitters are created mainly in your gut? This should tell you logically that what you eat or drink has a direct impact on how you feel emotionally, mentally, and physically.

If you are eating healthy foods, your body will benefit. If you are eating a diet of highly processed foods with all the chemical additives and junk, it will take its toll on you and eventually, aspects of your body will begin to shut down. Continuing on this path will also very likely trigger certain faulty genes in your system and may give rise to cancers, autoimmune disorders, or other illnesses.

Even though I have gotten a great deal healthier, I learned from a medical doctor specializing in viruses and allergies that I have an ongoing Epstein-Barr virus. Most people get those when they are young and the body’s immune system successfully overcomes it. However, in certain persons like myself, the Epstein-Barr virus was never completely eradicated. It simply went into remission. Because of this, the way I had been eating and dealing with the stress of life, prompted the virus to come back.

One red flag for me is when I start experiencing severe sleepiness in the afternoons so that I feel like I’m going into a coma (along with muscle pain and lethargy). Most people get a bit tired in the afternoon, but this is totally different. It washes over me like a huge wave and I know it’s time to start taking my anti-viral medication again. Because my body years ago never successfully killed the virus, it has hung around in my system and I was not aware of it. It took a specialist and numerous blood tests to figure out. The anti-viral starts to make me feel better and then I stop taking it. This is the cycle I’ll have to repeat until I die.

I’ve learned also that whenever I eat something bad, it takes three days to leave my system. Most recently, I ate some different gluten-free bread. I am sensitive to wheat and gluten but unlike my sister, I do not have Celiac disease. I avoid regular breads because it is healthier for me to do so, unlike many who avoid it because it is the current fad. There are some gluten-free breads I cannot eat because of the other ingredients in it. For instance, I am very sensitive to potato starch, although I can I have potato french fries occasionally without any negative side effects. The potato starch is more highly concentrated and takes only a very small amount for my skin to start breaking out and itching.

The bread I ate caused me to experience symptoms that I’d not had in a while. I noticed that the top of my head felt numb, I experienced that swishing inside my brain and in general I was fighting off irritability, fatigue and lethargy. I also started to feel myself dip down toward feeling “blue.” Three days later, I started feeling much better.

Why does my body react like this so noticeably now? Actually, as I look back over the past few years, it acted the exact same way then, but I didn’t really notice because it was my normal. I felt yucky most of the time. I recall trying to explain it to people by saying that it was like desperately trying to keep your head above water enshrouded in a powerful vice. Every once in a while, I could get above it and take some deep breaths but all too often, I was just below the surface.

Most of my problems were directly related to the foods I ate. Food today is designed to look, smell, and taste good, but when we break it down, there is very little quality in much of our food. It has so many chemicals that are designed to trick our taste buds, but it really is not good at all. Yes, there are some people who can seemingly eat anything, never gain weight and never have any physiological/health issues. However, those folks are rare. The average individual in the USA is overweight to obese, has many health problems and “shuffles” along. The primary reason is due to what they eat.

But there is also the need for supplementation in our diets. Due to DNA testing, I’ve learned that I have the MTHFR issue with my genes. This means, among other things, that my body cannot absorb Folic Acid. It simply cannot break it down. Yet, I still need Folic Acid. What to do? Leafy greens are the answer and a low dose of Folate, which is methylated folic acid.

Because of my limitations, there are only a few places where we can eat out. Chick-Fil-A is one of those places. I normally eat their grilled chicken sandwich without the bun. Yes, they now offer gluten-free buns, but those buns have potato starch in them according to their ingredient list. So I simply ask for extra lettuce and eat the sandwich as a chicken wrap without the bun. Other places we eat are Pie Five and Longhorns Steak House. That’s about it really. Not eating out has saved us an incredible amount of money, which allows us to use that savings in buying quality food from good grocery stores. We avoid foods that have sodium nitrates/nitrites in them, along with dextrose and other “curing” chemicals. We try to buy antibiotic-free foods/meats and only buy chicken that has free-ranged and been fed organically. Probably one of the most important man-made chemicals we avoid now is High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). It’s really “poison” to our bodies.

For eggs, we have four chickens in our backyard that are treated very well. They get to free range in a very large fenced in area. We feed them only organic feed and they spend their days rooting around for worms, grubs, and other things from the lawn. I have never tasted better eggs in my life!

Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made. Certainly, we cannot argue with that. At the same time, I don’t really believe we know our bodies well enough. Do we “listen” to our aches and pains? They are talking to us.

I have learned that talking to people about what they eat and their health is like talking to them about their need for salvation, which of course, is far more important. My point is that people tend to not realize the problem they are in, whether it has to do with foods they eat or the beliefs they hold. My wife and I have spent time talking with people who suffer from all sorts of maladies and illnesses, and we use ourselves as examples, so in that sense, we are living examples of what it means to turn bad health into good. Yet, while they seem to listen and appreciate what we have to say, they don’t put our advice into practice.

We’ve had talks with people who think what we’re doing is great, yet continue on their low-fat diet, which is one of the worst things a person can do because our brains need (good)fat! A constant low-fat diet actually begins to starve our brains. People on those diets will constantly grab high-carb foods to stave off those hunger pangs. In reality, their brains are simply telling them they need good fats.

I hope you recognize that what you drink/eat can harm you physically and mentally? That will ultimately take its toll on you spiritually as well. Your health starts with what goes into your stomach.

I hope you care enough about the body that God gave you to begin treating it like the temple it is.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective