Rough Waters
Trying to decide when to offer an update has been challenging. Since my job loss in December of 2025, I have been working on multiple projects and pouring more time into making Rooftop Prayer Warrior a brand. I will send out additional updates once everything has a solid direction. I do not think you will be disappointed, and I can't wait for your feedback and response. Stay tuned.
Rooftop Prayer Warrior has not done well at living up to its full potential. It has taken a lot of time, but I can now see how it is all coming together after almost six years. I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support. That's what Rooftop Prayer Warriors do!
I wanted to give an update on my health. It has been strange over the last year. The last time I wrote an entry, I talked about the major change in my career and finances, but I also talked about how God opened a door to allow me to get back into student ministry leadership. To say that I have been blessed is an understatement. God continues to show up and allow me to do what I thought would not continue.
Today, I am changing direction slightly because I have not had any real updates on my health since my entry on 5/31/25. And although I had great news then, what I did not know is that the days and months following that entry would bring me to uncertainty. The stress and disorganization with my job, I'm afraid, have finally surfaced. Let me explain. In the early months, my walking has been the primary point of concern. I was only using a cane in crowds, but now I use a cane anytime I am not at home. In the fall, I started experiencing improvements with the numbness that was left in my right thumb and index finger. After my job loss in December, I really started focusing on my physical health and spending more time in prayer. I have seen more improvements—although slight. I have been able to walk to the end of my very short street and back. Not something I could have done confidently in the past. I still use a cane to accomplish this, but at least I can do it. I can't do it every day, but I try to walk it at least three times a week. If you are cheering, I was too!! That is a big deal!
But here I am, one year after my last health update and two weeks after my video visit with Cleveland Clinic, and I am concerned once again. If you go all the way back to the beginning of this journey, you will read that it was my vision that revealed I had Multiple Sclerosis. That vision issue was in my left eye. In early May, I started having trouble with my right eye. I am really hoping it is not the MonSter. I hope it is some weird infection, or maybe my dry eye issues are out of control again—but there is something else that has me concerned. Headaches and a vaccine.
At the end of April, I had a follow-up with my local physician, only because I needed a referral to get reestablished with the Cleveland Clinic due to restrictions on my current insurance. If you look at my past blog entries, you will find that in the summer of 2021, I had shingles. Now that I am over 50, the physician wanted me to take the shingles vaccine. I still can't figure out why I said yes, except that I really did not want shingles again—and I know that when I had chickenpox as a child, I had it really bad. I remember scooting across the floor to get relief from the itching. I remember being completely miserable, and I think I was only five years old at that time. Knowing all the possible problems with vaccines, and that it might not be the best idea since I had been doing so well after HSCT, I probably should not have taken any chances. I should have refused it. But I didn't. And the days following the vaccine were horrific!! I could not walk for about 24 hours. I felt like my head was going to explode. I couldn't go anywhere. I had no appetite. I am sure I had a fever, but I couldn't get up to check it. I think this mistake may have cost me the success I have had with HSCT. I won't know until my MRI, which is scheduled for June 16th. I will not be taking the second part of the vaccine. Prayer Warriors unite!!!
God has protected me and brought me through so much on this journey. Either way, the journey is not over. I don't have the rest of the story, but God does. I still cling to everything I have believed in the past. No matter what the result, God has the best plan, and I will stick with that. I am not going to continue to dwell on the negative "what-ifs." There isn't anything I can do about it anyway.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (ESV)
God’s grace is enough! May He be glorified in it all!
Rooftop Prayer Warrior
