The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16
Some seasons of our life seem to go on and on. So it was with the ulcerative colitis. Mine awoke me every morning at 4 am without fail. There was a cycle with my worst pain and incessant trips to the bathroom occurring every morning from 4 am to 8 am. Then it would calm down enough I could get to work. That was when I drug my big recliner into my large walk in closet—my prayer room was created. For 4 hours every morning, it was God and I alone preparing to face the day.
Over the course of the disease, I developed all the severe side effects from the high doses of steroids. I lost all the muscle tone in my legs making stairs a near impossibility. I grew a mustache and beard. The large “buffalo-hump” between my shoulders ached. My eyes and mouth became lost within the moon shaped face. Fatigue plagued me as there was little hope for sleep those days except the one in three that I allowed myself a sleeping pill. Despite the massive routines of suppositories, cortisone enemas, and pills; nothing controlled this monstrous disease. It was the hours alone with God that gave me the strength to keep going. In those early mornings, I would read scripture and we would just talk. When I looked in the mirror at the stranger staring back at me, I now saw a warrior. I was God’s warrior.