Living Well
Eating My Way to Healing
She was plagued by poor health until God healed her through her diet
By Rhonda J . Smith
I n my primary school lunchroom I would stare at the poster that was screaming at me but I could not understand what it was saying . There were pictures of animals and foods representing the various food groups and a caption that read “ You are what you eat .” My 7-year-old mind could only understand the caption to mean “ If I ate a cow , I would be a cow .” “ If I ate cheese , I would be cheese ?” I shrugged , tucking away this early lesson in proper eating and only pulling it back out 27 years later , when the fullness of that message would come to me . “ You are what you eat ”: You will be unhealthy if you eat unhealthy . You will be healthy if you eat healthy . After suffering for years with chronic constipation , yeast infections , acne , arthritis , abscesses , extra weight , lesions on my gums , poor circulation , inflammation in my chest and a depressed immune system , I came to understand that most of my health issues were directly related to what I ate . I received this revelation not from family members or health care providers but the Lord Himself after crying out to Him after my umpteenth yeast infection . Being raised on and cooking fat-laden soul foods in addition to the Standard American Diet ( SAD ) of meat and potatoes , fried and processed foods with very little fresh fruits and vegetables , like many African Americans from the South , my parents just didn ’ t have the knowledge to help me . I didn ’ t have heart issues or “ sugar ” so they didn ’ t have a clue that my issues were food related . Even the host of primary care physicians and specialists I went to gave me little help . Of the half dozen or so doctors I saw , only two gave me a dietary plan but then told me I could return to my normal way of eating once my symptoms were gone . The others just gave me a prescription to relieve my symptoms . I never got knowledge on how to prevent the issue so I wouldn ’ t get any symptoms at all . They simply specialized in pain relief . But God specializes in root relief . He specializes in healing . God said about Jerusalem : “ Behold , I will bring it health and cure , and I will cure them , and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth ” ( Jeremiah 33:6 KJV ). God let them know that He was not just going to bandage their wounds ( health ) and give them a remedy to heal ( cure ) them . He was also going to heal ( cure ) them and then show them how to have a wealth of soundness ( peace ) in their bodies and His truth as opposed to the falsehood that they had been receiving . He did the same for me :
He gave me His Scripture .
Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane at FreeDigitalPhotos . net
“ Call to me and I will answer you , and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known ” ( Jeremiah 33:3 ). Having poor health most of my life and little relief , I thought I just had to accept poor health as part of my life , but the Holy Spirit in me had me cry to the Lord for deliverance from the pain and sluggishness . Soon after I asked the Lord to help me , I was watching a Christian television program I rarely watched and they were discussing Bible cures for various ailments , including yeast infections .
He gave me His servants . Dr . Don Colbert , a Christian medical doctor who incorporates natural healing methods in his prac-
10 The Well Magazine / Spring 2013