In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about trusting in God. I'm going to go over my story of how I had to put my trust in God completely every single day to get through weight loss surgery, recovery, and all of that. I pair this with prayer, scripture, and 3 things to implement.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our hearts, our minds, our eyes, and our ears to you Lord. Please lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. Lord, I can't thank you enough for everything that you've done. Thank you for always being here, for your unconditional love, and for always having my best interests at heart. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
The Lord God Almighty is our Heavenly Father, He is our Creator, the Most High, and He has our best interests at heart. We can trust in the Lord completely, but trust me when I say that I know firsthand that it's easier said than done. So on January 12, 2022, I had weight loss surgery. I didn't know if I would ever talk about this on my podcast or anything like that, but I felt compelled to do it so I'm here talking about it. Six months before my weight loss surgery I had gone into the weight loss clinic and did monthly weigh-ins and all of that. My mom had surgery in October, so she had surgery 3 months before I did, and she wanted me to do it but I wasn't sure about it. I honestly didn't think I would go through with having the surgery. I just went in monthly with my mom for the check-ins and all of that just in case, but I honestly didn't think I'd actually go through with it. I had been praying about it for months and I wasn't going to go through with it until I had clarity from God. The closer time came before surgery I still didn't have clarity, so I didn't think I was going to go through with it.
On January 11th, 2022 (the day before surgery,) I was talking to a lady on the phone to do registration. Because of covid, she said that no one could go back there with me in my room before or after surgery. I'm the type of person that needs my mom for everything. I don't know if you can relate but she goes to the doctor with me, we go to the grocery store together, and pretty much wherever I go my mom is there with me. So it made me super anxious whenever that woman told me that she wouldn't be able to be in the room with me. As soon as I got off the phone with that lady and we finished the registration I started bawling crying. I was freaking out, my mom was right there beside me, and she tried to calm me down. She was telling me that everything would be okay and she was praying with me. It helped me feel a tiny bit better but I went up to my room and I just kept praying and I got this overwhelming feeling of God saying "trust me." That day I spent hours crying, praying, and listening to this song, it's called "Same God" by Hannah Kerr, on repeat. I just kept listening to that song over and over and felt so emotional. I felt great but had so many whirlwinds of emotions that day.
The next day was surgery day and I think I had to be there at 6 am. So all that morning I prayed but something felt different that day. I didn't feel anxious like I had been feeling. I felt at peace that morning and I hadn't had that feeling about surgery at all in those whole six months. It was crazy how things fell into place. My mom ended up going back into the room with me and she got to stay with me after surgery. After surgery, I stayed overnight, and then I left the next day in the afternoon. So the lady that was trying to get me prepared for surgery couldn't start my iv because she couldn't get a good stick so they had to have an anesthesiologist come and do an ultrasound and do the ivs. Things weren't going completely smooth but I felt so at peace. The anesthesiologist that went back there with me was so nice and knowledgeable and she helped me feel even more at ease. I was a little anxious about that because when I had gone in to get my endoscopy before I could even go through with having the surgery, the anesthesiologist there just gave me this medicine that made me feel really loopy and I didn't like it at all. So I was anxious and it was amazing that my anesthesiologist was so knowledgeable, nice, and didn't give me anything that made me feel crazy.
After the surgery is when the real challenge came. As soon as I woke up in the recovery room I started freaking out. I was hurting so bad and I was in shock that I actually had surgery because for the whole six months before that I didn't actually think I was going to go through with it. So I stayed at the hospital overnight, left the next afternoon, and I was in a lot of pain but they kept me on good medicine at the hospital. Whenever I got home from the hospital I had to walk every hour to avoid blood clots. I was in so much pain and my pain medicine didn't really help it just made me sleepy. I couldn't get good sleep throughout the day because I had to wake up every hour to walk. At night I would wake up every 2-3 hours to walk. As far as my diet went, I went through different stages to reintroduce foods. So the first stage was clear liquids for a little over a week then I could start adding cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup, yogurt, and different things like that but there were different stages that I had to go through.
For a good month and a half to two months after surgery, I was going through a really tough time. I had so many emotions, I was in so much pain, and it was so much harder for me to recover than my mom and I kind of felt defeated. Not even a few days after surgery when my mom had it she was driving around, walking around, having no problem, it didn't seem like she was in any pain, and she just recovered really quickly. For me, that was not the case at all so I kept thinking that maybe I was doing something wrong. I was reassured by my doctor during my one-week follow-up, one-month follow-up, and 3-month follow-ups. I still have a 6-month follow-up that I have to go to. So every time I had a follow up I was reassured by my doctor that it was just taking me longer to recover but everything was good and I was doing everything right.
For that month and a half to two months I was getting really depressed, I had to constantly trust in the Lord, and that is the only way that I could get through it. I had to remind myself that God's got me and I would come out of it stronger and healthier. During those 2 months, there were so many times where I just wished that I could eat anything I wanted and I didn't care if I just stayed fat forever because it was so hard recovering through the surgery.
As time went on things started looking up and today as I am recording this it's May 10, 2022 and I've lost 70 pounds so far and it's almost been four months. Now it's 6/24/22 and I've lost 87 pounds. I feel so much better and so much healthier. There are still a lot of foods that bother my stomach. I can't eat very much at all but I just do what I can. I know my limits and I feel a lot better because I am a lot lighter. One of the big reasons why I had weight loss surgery is because of health issues. I have some heart problems and different things and my being severely overweight was very bad for my health. I am starting to feel a lot better losing 70 pounds (now I've lost 87). I still have a long way to go but I am very happy with the progress that I've made so far. There is no way that I would've been able to get through this if it wasn't for God. He has been giving me strength and has been my rock through all of this. I have had to learn to lean on Him and trust Him with everything. This journey has not been easy and I still have a long way to go but I know that God's got me. He's been here this whole time giving me everything that I need to grow through this. God is my Rock, my strong fortress, and I know that I can trust in Him completely.
Now let's go into some scripture:
5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
-Proverbs 3:5-6
"We live by faith, not by sight." -2 Corinthians 5:7
"because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
-James 1:3
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9
"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun."
-Psalm 37:5-6
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
-Isaiah 41:10
"For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does." -Psalm 33:4
"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." -Psalm 62:8
3 "You will keep in perfect peace those whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal."
-Isaiah 26:3-4
So I want you to know that whatever battle you are facing right now, whatever it is that you are going through, God's got you. He has your best interests at heart and he will give you everything that you need to grow through this, you just have to trust in Him completely. This is not a one-and-done thing. You have to constantly, every single day, choose to follow God, trust in Him, and be fully Submitted to His will.
Oh hey friend, sorry to interrupt this blog post, but I just wanted to remind you guys that "Christ Transforms Me," my 90-day journal is available for purchase on Amazon. To learn more about the journal or to purchase one, go to www.faithfuelsmyfire.com/journal
So here are 3 things that I want you guys to write down and implement daily:
1. Pray
- Let God know all of your fears, doubts, worries, all of it.
- Just give it all to him, pray, and let him know
- Even though God already knows everything, He knows what's in your heart and what's on your mind, it's good to pray and acknowledge all of those things to Him
2. Be still and listen
- We have to open up our ears, our eyes, our hearts, and our minds to what God is telling us
- Spend some time every single day to be quiet and listen to the Lord once you've prayed to Him, let your requests be known to Him, and you've given all of your doubts and worries to Him
3. Choose to put your trust in God every single day, no matter what you are facing
- This isn't easy and if you want to do like I did where I prayed and listened to music on repeat you can
- You may cry over and over again before you can put that trust in Him but it's very necessary because we have to put our trust in the Lord
- God is our Creator, He is the Almighty, He has our best interests at heart, and we are nothing without Him
- He will give us the strength and everything that we need to grow through life but we have to put our trust in Him and lean on Him no matter what
- We cannot let fear get in the way of trusting in the Lord
- He can do all things and us being afraid and not wanting to trust in Him is us thinking that he can't do all things and He can. He is the Almighty, He can do all things, and He can get us through anything that we need to get through
These three things you have to repeat every single day. Some days may be easier than others to do these three things but you have to make sure that you are doing them on repeat every day and constantly choosing each day to put your trust in the Lord through every situation you are facing. There have been so many times that the Lord has gotten me through things that I was facing that I didn't think that I would ever be able to grow through and I know that I can trust in Him fully. Sometimes I forget that and that's why it's so important to do these things every single day to remind ourselves to put all of our trust in the Lord, let go, and know that we are not in control. God is the one that is in control and He's got us. So I hope this episode helped you to put your trust in the Lord and know that He's got you and that you take these three things and implement them every single day.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
For more info on the "Christ Transforms Me" journal or to purchase it click here
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights