Walk By Faith: How I Deal With Migraine

This post was supposed to be finished in time for the Blog Carnival, but God had other plans and sent me on an impromptu trip to Pittsburgh, PA. That is another discussion.

My faith in Jesus Christ as my savior is the only way I deal with migraine disease. He did what no one else could do. He died for my sins. He died in my place! I am eternally grateful for the cross (This is the first line of a song we sing in church).

There are five factors that carry me through migraine disease: faith, trust, acceptance, and prayer. The first two are so connected that I really can't separate them.

Faith: I have the faith in the character of God. He is perfectly good. He is perfectly loving, He is just. He is eternally merciful. He is in control. God never changes. Not only does the Bible teach that God's character is like this, but I have seen His hand in my life.
My faith was not always like this. There are times that I thought God was capricious. I thought that had abandoned me. I was angry. That didn't last long, though. Somehow, sometime I was drawn back to the truth about God.

Trust: Trust follows faith. I trust God because He cannot do anything that is contrary to His nature. So then I can trust Him in all aspects of my life. He will not give me anything that has not first passed through His loving hands. Even when I have a bad migraine and I am in so much pain I can say that God is still good and loving.
Because my faith was frail and weak, in the beginning I couldn't trust in God very well. But I knew He was there. He loved me when I couldn't love Him.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1


Acceptance: Acceptance follows faith and trust. Early in my disease I could not accept it; I wondered how long it was going last. I said, "When will this be over?" I wasted a lot of time and energy working to that end. However, just recently, I realized that chronic migraine is just chronic. I have a primarily headache disease. Migraine can be controlled, but not cured. Once I stopped fighting the disease, and I stopped hoping for an end, I could spend that time and energy learning about migraine disease. I can teach others what I have learned. I can have peace with my disease.

Hope: Acceptance leads to hope. This is not a hope based on circumstance, but a hope in God who doesn't change. This is not a false hope of healing, although that may happen. I have the eternal hope that is in heaven. This present life is not all there is. I know that I will be in heaven with Jesus; there is no more pain or sorrow in heaven. I have a longing for my home in heaven that I didn't have before.

"because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel" Colossians 1:5.

Prayer: Prayer is talking to God. It is not always asking for circumstances to change. In the beginning, my only prayers were demanding that God would end my pain. When He didn't end my pain I was angry, hopeless, frustrated, and depressed.
I believe that sometimes God answers prayers for healing, but I think they are rare. Acceptance has changed how I pray and what I pray for. Instead of healing from migraine, I pray for strength to persevere through the migraine. I pray that I can know Him better. I pray for peace when I am anxious or fearful. I pray that He doesn't leave my side. He never does.

Migraine has changed me and it has changed the way I see God, my struggle here on earth, and heaven. I am grateful for this.