CFP: Melissa Jagears' friend, Karen, shares her guest testimony today with us, about coping with severe debilitating migraines.
MJ: Karen Riekeman is a friend of mine who was subjected to
me rattling on and on about A Heart Most
Certain while I was writing it. During the process, I realized her
testimony would work well for one of my secondary characters, Bernadette
Wisely. But anyone who knew that we knew each other would likely catch the
similarities, so thankfully Bernadette gave me permission to play with her
testimony for this book. I figured her story was quite the “Overcoming with
God” story, and she was gracious enough to share. Hopefully, someone will be
encouraged by the real story behind one of my secondary characters.
Here’s
Karen:
I am wife to Budg Riekeman, a mother of three, a legal
secretary, a sometimes decorator, and a pastor’s wife who lives in a small town
in Kansas.
In a similar way to Bernadette’s character, I struggled
with my relationship with the Lord for many years. I lacked a vibrant
relationship with Him and was not able to give much of an example to others of
what a close relationship with the Lord looked like. Due to my own lack of
discipline, parenting three children, the work that goes into ministering in
small churches, and relying on my years in the church as a crutch, I managed to
go for years with very little one-on-one time with the Lord. I was saved at the
age of 16 and knew such a transformation at that time that I knew that I was
saved and that I was loved by Him, but I couldn’t seem to buckle down and make
myself be disciplined enough to meet with Him each day. I would have moments
where I would determine to be more disciplined and a few periods where I did
manage to grow in Him for a time but, on the whole, I grew very little over
those first 20 years in ministry. Oh, I could fake it really well. I knew the
prayers that needed to be prayed in public; I knew the right answers in Sunday
School; I knew where the verses were to be found in the Bible; I taught in
Sunday School classes; led in Vacation Bible School; organized retreats and
women’s ministry events, but they weren’t backed up with any kind of vibrancy
in my relationship with Jesus.
We had the privilege of ministering in sweet churches in
Texas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota and now Kansas. The people were
wonderful and we felt loved and cherished in each place. I had good friends and
cherished memories from each church. My husband was growing by leaps and bounds
in his faith and trust in the Lord in each place, and I would look at him with
such envy, but it didn’t spur me much to be disciplined myself. It was the same
way you look at someone who is in good shape and envy that they can jog without
stopping to catch their breath but you don’t have the discipline to get in
shape yourself.
In August of my 40th year, I came down with a
severe headache that would end up lasting for about 7 months with little to no
relief. I had never been diagnosed with migraines before that time, so it came
as a surprise to me that the final diagnosis was migraines. However, no medication
seemed to help and few things brought any relief during that time. Even when
you are in pain, life goes on and the kids were in sports and school events and
I still needed to work, so I coped but each day was a struggle. I would go to
bed at night grateful that sleep would bring some form of freedom from the
pain. However, I would wake up in the early hours of the morning in so much
pain that I would crawl out of bed to sit in the recliner in the living room. I
sought the Lord in His Word and in prayer for relief from the pain and for hope
for my future.
Because of the earliness of the hour and the quiet in our
house, I had time for the Lord like never before. I worked through Bible
studies and I read through the Psalms over and over as they brought me such
comfort. Sometime during those months, I began to fall in love with Jesus. I
loved that it was just He and I in the quiet and solitude, and I knew He was
there to meet with me. I felt His presence and I knew like never before how
loved I was. He met me in His Word and began to give me verses that promised me
hope and that He would never leave me. He gave me the courage to face each day
and to find my sufficiency in Him alone. It was still hard, I was still in
pain, but Jesus became my source of strength. Sometimes the words just seemed
to jump off the page at me and I knew they were directly for me.
By March of the next year, the pain began to ease and the
worst of the headache ended but by then I was so in love with Jesus I couldn’t
stop meeting with Him. My girlfriends really noticed the difference and often
commented on how different I was from before. My Sunday school classes were
different and Bible studies with groups were more meaningful and I had truth to
share like never before.
I still live with the migraines. I wasn’t miraculously
healed. It has been over 10 years and I continue to deal with them. Sometimes
for weeks at a time but they’ve never gone on for months like before. I’ve
learned that Jesus is sufficient for whatever we face; to have compassion on
those who are hurting; to be grateful for “good” days; to trust Him on “bad”
days; to believe Him and to trust Him whatever the day brings; and that I never
want to go back to how I was before.
Similar to Bernadette, ministry is different now because
it springs from my relationship with Jesus. I don’t do what I think others want
me to do, but instead I do what I believe He is calling me to, using the gifts
and the talents He has given me.
CFP: Thank you for sharing with us, Karen! I suffered from a six month migraine following a car wreck. Thank God mine resolved but I do still get them (I never had before.) In my latest novella, my hero suffers from severe migraines, too, which plays into the storyline. I'm looking forward to reading Melissa's latest novel, and bet her story is wonderful. Blessings to both of you!
Giveaway: A copy of Melissa Jagear's A Heart Most Certain and a copy of my newest novella, Tea Shop Folly.
Answer this question (and leave your email address if you aren't a regular here): Have you ever suffered from chronic headaches and how did God help you cope?
