Focus on God not the Sickness
If you knew Tracy (Padgett) Miller at a certain time in her life you would have thought she had it all. A student athlete with an active volunteer and social life, she was laying the foundation for a bright future, one with many possible avenues to success.
If you had met her at a different time you would think that she was defined, not by her efforts, but by the efforts of the doctors and nurses who cared for her. She had become gravely ill, and began a rotation of hospital visits that lasted many years.
At the age of 16 Tracy began suffering from an internal disease. "I started getting really sick," Tracy recalled. "I had terrible nausea, vomiting, and internal bleeding." She went to the hospital and was told she had a stomach virus and was sent back home. After visiting many doctors and enduring humiliating tests, Tracy's life changed when she visited Dr. Pike, a military Gastroenterologist in Columbus, Georgia. Tracy described Dr. Pike as "a man who would have a lifelong impact on me.”
After conducting one exam, Dr. Pike told Tracy she had Ulcerative Colitis, which, in her case, meant she had an open sore running from her inner rectum eight inches into her large intestine.
Over the next few years the disease took a heavy toll on Tracy, and the stresses of adjusting to college life intensified the effects of the disease on her digestive system. "I didn't know how to study - that was stressful and I became sicker with each relapse." The distraction of the disease affected her studies causing her to lose a scholarship to Georgia Tech. However, Tracy didn’t give up on her degree. She took a couple of years to regain control of her life, then she enrolled and graduated from a college closer to home.
Tracy's healing from Ulcerative Colitis would take faith and trust in God, for there is no known cure. Surgery quickly became a distinct possibility that she had hoped to avoid.
After living 19 years with Ulcerative Colitis and its debilitating effects, God opened a door. He led her to two more doctors who would, again, change her life. "God allowed me to be treated by men of God whom He would use to heal me."
Though it was a drastic solution, they agreed upon surgery. Tracy's entire colon would be removed and an internal ostomy bag would be inserted in its place. This would leave her with little control over some "basic bodily functions" for the rest of her life.
Tracy can now look back and see things that she could not see during her battle with Ulcerative Colitis. "I had to constantly fight. Nothing ever came easy for me," she recalled. "My body wouldn't cooperate, so I had to rely on my relationship with God to keep me strengthened and encouraged. That was a blessing that I couldn’t see when I was sick."
Through Ulcerative Colitis, Tracy realized that God was gently guiding her through a relearning process that taught her that she could not navigate life by herself. "It was a faith walk to teach me about support systems. God always uses our experiences to help someone else."
Tracy also didn't realize, at the time, that the people closest to her never spoke negative finality about her illness because they expected her to get well. "I didn't realize they were displaying faith. That misinterpretation created a sense of guilt, one that only disappeared through prayer."
Her oldest son shares with her, how he is encouraged by the strength that he sees in her. He said that watching her continue doing "everything a mother should do," even when she was sick, makes Tracy the person he admires most because "she didn’t give up."
There are countless points of victory in Tracy's journey, but one of the biggest victories came when she proclaimed, "I am healed!" ... The doctors said "You are so sick, yet so happy. We don't understand.” She shared, "Even if it was just dangling my feet over the edge of the bed and dancing in the air, faith allowed me to set an atmosphere for healing, that started in my mind."
A common occurrence for people living with Ulcerative Colitis is to develop polyps in their colon. These polyps can grow exponentially and potentially develop into cancer. Tracy testified, "I have never experienced even one polyp!"
Tracy's healing came not by the doctors' hands nor medicine. Tracy was healed by God. "Medicine can't take away the core issue, only God can."
Having spent her entire life in a Christian environment, Tracy knew the importance of reading, learning, and applying scripture to her life. She asked God for a scripture on which to hang her faith. He gave her Isaiah 26:3 "For thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusteth in Thee." Tracy was healed because she focused on God not the Sickness.
