I was born again in 1983, yet I never fully understood this passage of Scripture until now:
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7:6).
How I learned from the Holy Spirit exactly what our Lord Jesus was teaching broke my heart. But I still rejoiced in the lesson from our King.
Most of the readers know that I am an ethnic Jew who came to know Jesus (Yeshua) as Savior and Lord in 1983. I am rejected by most of my family. The Lord saved my dad and used this willing vessel to share all about Jesus with him. The seed fell on fertile ground, and I was given the amazing privilege of leading him to the Throne of Grace before he died.
This passage of Scripture has helped sustain me during stormy times with my family:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
About a month ago, I had my yearly physical and received some pretty startling news. My bloodwork showed that my kidneys were struggling to do their job in my body.
My kidney function numbers were very bad. The story that these numbers told was that I was in stage 3 of kidney disease. If it progressed to state 4, I would have either needed to go on dialysis or find a living donor.
My precious husband immediately told me that he would donate one of his kidneys if it came to needing this. My blood type is AB+ (pretty rare) but having this blood type makes me a universal recipient which means that I can accept blood or organs from all blood types; so my husband’s kidney would have worked in me.
My Doctor schedules a new blood draw
My doctor wrote to me on my patient portal and gave me instructions about my diet and other things which would impact kidney function. He told me that I could not take Advil or any ibuprofen products for my arthritis – only Tylenol – and sparingly.
He also told me that I had to be on a low potassium diet. And he scheduled another blood draw for the 24th of this month (3 weeks from first one) to see how things were going.
I began researching CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) on all of the top medical sites including Mayo Clinic and Kidneyfoundation.org. What I was reading was alarming to me. It basically said that if your kidneys had lost a percentage of function, the best they could do was to help the body to slow down the progression of the disease.
From kidneyfoundation.org
When a patient is diagnosed with stage 3 CKD, an eGFR of 38-45 and an estimated loss of 40% of kidney function, can this be reversed with proper treatment? Once chronic kidney damage has been done, this is not reversible. … Once you have reached Stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD), it is unlikely this will be reversed.
In other words, you can’t get back the part of the kidney that has failed. I just stared at this in disbelief. But I got off of Advil and went to the Kidney Foundation site to educate myself on eating a lower potassium diet.
My GFR was 45, and I had to come to terms that this meant that I had permanently lost 40% of my kidney function. Also, an important test had been done on my Urea Nitrogen. The test showed it to be “29” when the standard range was 7 – 22.
New Blood Draw 3 weeks later
I went in for the new blood work. The lady who draws blood is a Christian, and we are very close. I told her that my numbers were so awful and that I was losing function of my kidneys. She said to me, “After I draw the blood, I will pray over you.”
After closing the door to her room and then drawing blood, she placed the vial of blood in my hand and then put her hands over mine, and she began to pray. It was a powerful prayer. She used Scriptures. I was crying.
She prayed for my numbers to be so much better that the doctors would scratch their heads and be in disbelief! We hugged and I went home.
When I received the results, I knew that it was a miracle by God’s hand.
I went from 29 (really bad) on one test (Urea Nitrogen) to 10!!! And my GFR which measures the amount of kidney function left jumped 6 points!!
That’s not supposed to happen according to the kidneyfoundation.org.
Sharing the Miracle with Family Members
Needless to say, I was rejoicing at receiving this healing from God’s hand. All my doctor said was this:
“Good evening – creatinine better and urine assessments normal – no further testing needed.” He wrote that to me on my patient portal.
I smiled when I pictured his face as he saw that my GFR score had jumped to 51! He is not a Christian.
My Family
I knew that those who are not believers in my family were very concerned for me. But when they scoffed at a “Miracle,” one by one they did, I realized why the Lord told us not to cast our pearls before swine.
It’s a terrible thing to think of that Scripture in relation to immediate family – but we need to know that whenever a person (whomever they are) rejects the Lord Jesus over and over and over – they fall into the category of “swine” as the Lord said.
Until the unbelieving in our families repent and trust the Lord Jesus for their Salvation – anything we say that gives God the glory will be rejected, or as Jesus said “Trampled underfoot.” They are in darkness and will remain there until/unless they are born-again.
This saddened me, but taught me a lesson too. And it strengthened my resolve to Pray for each of the lost in my family even harder.
Shalom b’Yeshua
MARANATHA!!
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