By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Dear reader, this Sunday I would like to share with you what I shared during the Health Sunday celebration in All Saints Cathedral, Bontoc, Mountain Province.
God has endowed everyone with built-in miraculous healing powers – whether you are a Muslim, Jew, Christian or non-believer. Everyone has natural healing powers since the time we were conceived. This amazing healing machine is in the genes of every living being- humans, animals and plants.
As Psalm 139:14 says “ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
We have evidence of this in each of us. How many times have we been injured and got well? It is not the band-aid or iodine that healed you. It is your body itself. If it is a big wound and you took antibiotics, it is still your body that stitched the wound and closed it. The medicine might have helped kill the bacteria but it is your body that healed itself.
Says Roger Jahnke, an internationally-known doctor of Oriental Medicine, “The naturally occurring self-healing ability of your own body, mind, and spirit is the world’s greatest healer…. This does not suggest that our physicians will no longer be needed.” It means that “when it is necessary to have expert medical care, we can work with our physicians and therapists as partners by purposely stimulating our own precious gift of self-healing.”
He further explains that this self-healing superpower is affected by choices that each individual makes in 3 interconnected factors as follows:
1. Our choice of attitude and mental influences. If you believe that you have a built-in power to heal then the healer within you is automatically strengthened and you get healed. “Your faith has healed you.”
Proverbs 17:22 says “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
And here’s a quote from one of the greatest scientists in the world who is also a great believer “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though there are no miracles. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Regarding mental influences, be careful with what you feed your mind. Seeing the news even once a day could be depressing – it’s always bad news. Carefully also select your friends. Avoid negative people.
Proverbs 12:26 states: The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
Proverbs 13:20 advises: “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Example- friends who encourage alcohol drinking to someone they know is addicted, friends who kantiyaw others who like to eat well.
1 Corinthians 15:33 warns: Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.”
2. Choice of lifestyle- diet, activity, rest, relationships, material possessions, work, spiritual practice, avoidance of alcohol & cigarettes, etc. This area takes a lot of discipline and is closely interrelated with #1- attitudes and mental influences.
Regarding diet, I want to share this story from a sermon by Padi Lioba Achawon. Padi Lioba shared that the Queen of Sheba wanted to test King Solomon’s wisdom. We know King Solomon to be the wisest of kings. So the queen presented 2 identical flowers – one real and one fake – and challenged King Solomon to identify which was the real one. The King was silent and remembered that there were flowers in the garden outside. He then had the windows opened and in came the bees and, of course, the bees landed on the real flower. He then said, “The bees have the answer.” Ang wise talaga ni King Solomon!
Just like King Solomon, we look to nature for guidance and wisdom. Not to expensive technologies, not to calculations made in the laboratory and certainly not to claims made by the factory. So go natural, go organic. Naturally grown plants and animals will provide the proper building blocks for growth and repair of our bodies.
Psalm 145:15 says: “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.”
Then we have to walk, walk, walk. Move, move, move. God designed our bodies to bend, flex, carry, move.
3. Choice of personal self-care – this includes self-massage, slow deep breathing and prayer and meditation.
God created us to be healthy and remain healthy. The more you analyze how your body works, the more you would be awed at the goodness of our Creator. But we also have to do our part. We have to abide by his laws and design. Just like a machine- uray no siya nan kagawisan ay brand of refrigerator, if you don’t take care of it, then it will be damaged in a short time.
Psalm 19: 9, 11 says: “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous…. By keeping them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
Romans 12:2 says: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
So dear friends, whatever health condition you are in now, remember God’s promise in Jeremiah 30:17 “I will restore health to you and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord.” **
