Covenant Life Fellowship
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Donations
  • Nuggets of Gold
  • Today's Teachings
  • Contacts
  • Events

Part 2 of Melissa Keaster's Testimony

4/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Brandon, my husband, brought home some gluten-free muffins made from teff flour as a treat. Which they were. Until two hours later.
I’m not a puker. I once went 10 years without vomiting. But that day, I vomited more times than during the rest of my life combined. It was so bad, I couldn’t pick myself up off the cold tile. After one round ended another came.
Unfortunately, I didn’t associate the muffins with Vomitpalooza. Rather, I assumed I’d caught the stomach flu of the Apocalypse. When I recovered, I ate another muffin. Two hours later?
Well, as my friend Tim says, “What you believe matters.”
It was a mistake I didn’t have a chance to recover from. A few days later, I caught an actual stomach bug. Then another virus. Then the flu. Then I found out I was pregnant. Oh, boy.
I enjoyed a few good weeks toward the end of my pregnancy, which was nice, but the labor was long and hard. I was induced before I was ready and suffered a systemic reaction to the epidural, which failed me in the eleventh hour.
I never bounced back.
For the first week of life, Sara was perfect. Easy, even. But then my milk came in and with it a case of colic from hell. She screamed bloody murder every day from 4pm until 1am, which gave my 3 year old son anxiety attacks every night. She didn’t sleep, and she wanted to eat every hour. Every. Hour.
At three weeks, she caught a cold. At six weeks, RSV and chronic ear infections. As I fought to keep her out of the hospital, I was unraveling. Sleep wasn’t a thing for me. My food sensitivities worsened. I began to react to triggers upon skin contact. I dropped weight at an alarming rate. Anaphylaxsis became common. I wondered if I’d live to see my baby girl well.
December 2011-March 2012 are the darkest, most hellish months in my memory. I’ve repressed a lot of it. Life was utter chaos. There were demonic manifestations in my house. When I shut my eyes, I wasn’t sure if I’d wake up. When I slept, I had nightmares. No one was doing well.
And yet…they’re also the sweetest months of my life. I experienced the presence of God in ways I never had before. His Spirit would descend on me as I folded laundry and poured out my heart to him. His Word came alive in new ways. It gave me strength. I was so gloriously, impossibly strong. So gloriously, impossibly joyful. My best worship took place as I rocked my colicky baby. “Be Still My Soul” became the anthem of my life. I pressed into him as the storm raged around me. In his arms, I was fearless. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Robert Lindsay 
    Covenant Life Fellowship

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    Testimony

    RSS Feed



    ​Board Members Login
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.