Insomnia

Well there really isn't much for me to write about right now, but I am a little bored since it is 5 AM and I can't sleep. I have been having trouble with insomnia lately, largely due to the fact that I have been having some strange skin problems and was put on Prednisone. In some ways the Prednisone is wonderful since I have felt like I have a jogging suit filled with itching powder on all day and the steroids seem to help a lot with that, but now I have not had a good night sleep in days. Even worse, the doctors I have been talking to don't know what is going on with me and you can't stay on Prednisone very long without some other major side effects. That means that over the next few days while I am weaning off the steroids and waiting for the next step the itch will be back. I am not sure if I am dreading the itch or looking forward to sleeping again more. I know I shouldn't really let it effect me too much, but it is just difficult to be in a good mood when you itch like that and can't do much about it. I have had allergy/eczema/asthma problems my whole life and I have always prayed that somehow God would help them not be as bad or even take them away either supernaturally or through medicine. Lately, though, I have learned that sometimes He just doesn't work like that and that there are far worse health problems I could have. So, my prayer has changed to also include asking Him to help me not to allow this to dictate my personality and to help me be the person He wants me to be bringing glory to Him dispite my circumstances, whether good, bad or just somewhere in the middle.
I have been reading a blog by one of the parents of a student I had for the first two years while I was teaching at Faith and it has definitely helped me in keeping my perspective. The girl's father has been having a lot of health problems over the last year while they were in the States and no one was able to give him an answer as to why things were happening, until they went to the Mayo Clinic a few months ago. There they found out that he has an extremely rare type of cancer, some form of lymphoma. It sounds like it is awful and they have been told that the Mayo Clinic has only seen something like 5 cases of it before him. Here is the name of the blog his wife is keeping if you would like to read more, she does a much better job of explaining the medical side of things than I could, www.garylphillips.blogspot.com. They are a neat family and have been serving as missionaries in the Philippines for many years.
The other thing I have been learning through this is that God has truly blessed Daniel and I with so much. I look at some of the Filipino people we see at the Arthur Center and know that if this were one of them having this issue, there would be no medical help since they would not be able to afford it financially. God has really used so many people to help provide for us and I could not be more thankful even just for a clean house to be able to come home to and a running shower with warm water. I can't imagine dealing with this and living in some of the conditions that are all too common here.