The Writing on the Wall: Grow Up

Just in case there was any question, allergy scratch tests are NOT FUN. In fact, they are so far out of the realm of fun, that they should not even be allowed in the same universe as fun. I sat on the table, awaiting my scratch tests to determine why I almost died eating a snickers bar, when a child in the room next to me began screaming.
"No no no, I'm all better! I don't need a shot! No no no!!I'm scared! It hurts!!!"
Good thing I wasn't ALREADY scared to death about the scratch tests....The doctor came in and we listened to his cries together. "He's a very sick boy," she told me, "But he really doesn't want to be here."

The doctor was very kind, but did not seem to feel I needed someone with me at all times in case I had a massive allergic reaction to the scratch test.
"Only 1.5% have problems," she assured me.
I told her my self-diagnosis, oral allergy syndrome, and she concurred that it sure sounded like that is what I have based on the allergies I know of. Still, a targeted scratch test was important.

For those of you who don't know what a scratch test is, all you need to know is it is outlawed by the Geneva Convention, or should be. The doctor makes a little hole in your arm (which isn't supposed to bleed but GUESS WHO bled?) and then deposits particles of the allergens in the hole so that you will not only hurt, but if you react, itch like crazy. She makes a hole for each allergen she is testing for. It is as totally delightful as it sounds.

MOST patients do not have a vasovagal reaction and almost pass out, however.
"I don't feel so well," I said weakly.
They lay me back and sprang into action, with blood pressure monitoring, oxygen monitoring, and worried looks as they called the doc in.
She checked me, noticed my hands were ice cold, but assured me this was NOT an allergic reaction but a vasovagal reaction. Basically, it means I psyched myself out with fear.

I did indeed have a strong allergic response to birch, almonds, and hazel nuts. I knew I was allergic to hazel nuts. I didn't know about birch, but it fit with my syndrome exactly. I have never paid so much money to learn so little and have so much NOT FUN. I also reacted to salt water, which is the control, and which no one reacts to. That means that in general, I have hyper-reactive skin which was really ticked off about all the terrible stuff that was being done to my body. It goes with my hyper-reactive personality. Due to the hyperactivity of my skin, they had to kind of guess what I am allergic to, despite my pain and suffering to endure the tests. They told me it would be best if I and nuts parted ways permanently.

I think they were as glad for me to leave when it was all over as I was.

I had prayed on the way in, and had read the book of Lamentations as I sat waiting for the doctor. Listen to the passage I read, which was on my daily Bible reading plan for the day:
“Lamentations 1: 12-13
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
    Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
    on the day of his fierce anger.

¹³“From on high he sent fire;
    into my bones he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

I decided I would forego my Bible reading till after the Scratch test, torment, and fainting was done. So, as the itching intensified from the test sites, I read portions of a book I had just downloaded written by a friend. It is satire, and I figured laughter was just what I needed. Here is the portion I read:

"Itchy scratch, itchy scratchy, scratchy itchy scratch..."

I kid you not.

I think sometimes God is not quick to comfort. Sometimes I think He wants us to confront our fears, particularly if they are not well founded. Honestly, while the test was not pleasant, it really was far from unbearable. It was my fear that made it so much worse than it really was. Sometimes we really must be forced to endure things to discover that we can. It is not always kindness to coddle us.

I have lived this truth many times over as a parent. I sometimes have had to force my children to go through things they have no desire, understanding, or inclination to do. (For example, all of them hated making telephone calls to ask for information. Similarly, all of them were very shy and hesitant to thank the waitresses who brought them food.) Despite their intense discomfort, I insisted without pity that they must do those things or they would never grow up to be mature, responsible adults who must do those things.

Maybe God in His infinite wisdom was telling me without pity to GROW UP. He uses physical realities to suggest spiritual truths all the time. We are never to settle where we are spiritually. We should never be yelling, "No no no, I am all better! I don't want to do this! I'm scared! It hurts!" We all need to be in the presence of the Great Physician, doing whatever He feels we must do to be spiritually strong and healthy. We are always to be growing and maturing in our faith and trust, and sometimes it is hard, very hard. But the alternative is worse.

Thank you Lord. (but I am NEVER getting another scratch test.)

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1 Corinthians 14:20

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Ephesians 4:14-15

So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Hebrews 5:12-13

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

Ephesians 4:13

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Hebrews 6:1-3

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.