I will start at the very beginning because it's a very good place to start (to quote Julie Andrews!) hehe
I left home on Sunday 14th Feb and drove up to my brother's place near Christchurch (approx 3 hour drive). I stayed with them for a couple of nights before flying up to Auckland. The first night at my brother's place I didn't have a very good night's sleep and was relieved to be able to blob and watch the Winter Olympics all day Monday with my sis-in-law & niece. And there was figure skating on which I love to watch :)
On Tuesday morning I was packing to leave for Auckland when the lady I was staying with in Auckland contacted me to say she would pick me up from the airport. This was a relief to me as the trip was stressful to someone with ME/CFS and it meant I could cancel the shuttle I had booked. I used a wheelchair at the airports to save my energy on the way up to Auckland although when I had to walk a long way after being dropped off at the Chch terminal and had to stand at the help desk for ages while the lady hunted down a wheelchair I was beginning to wonder if there was any point! Upon arrival in Auckland my lovely hostess Tanya was there to meet me. Tanya and her husband Bruce were really loving and generous hosts. They looked after me really well and also fed me very well!
On the Wednesday morning I caught the bus from right outside their house (yes God arranged my accommodation!) and arrived at the church where the seminar was being held in plenty of time. There were 5 of us ladies attending the seminar and I think 4 of us were Christians. The first day was really long - 9am to 5pm with a break for lunch and a short break in the middle of the morning and afternoon. However Ian, who was teaching the seminar, was really easy to listen to and I was surprised that I managed to concentrate all day. On the first day we were taught an abridged version of the Lightning Process and were sent home with our own goals of what we wanted to accomplish that night using the LP. My goal was to go for a walk along the street and I did that even though I hadn't noticed any results yet. It wasn't until I was in bed that night and I did the process that I began to see results. And that was pretty quick really! I realised that my body was really relaxed and I was thinking "I think it's working!" and began to get excited. I woke up during the night in pain, did the LP and the pain all disappeared!
Wednesday was one of the hottest days on record for Auckland. It was 28C/84F with 100% humidity which made it feel like 35C/96F. It was a really long day for me, catching the bus at 8.30am and sitting in the seminar from 9am-5pm. At lunchtime I walked down to a cafe with 2 of the other ladies for lunch and walked back again up the hill. I was hot by then and remained hot for the rest of the day! After the seminar finished I stood in the sun for at least half an hour waiting for the bus. Normally this would have been a completely exhausting day and I would have been so tired the next day that I would have been feeling sick and tired and would have had to spend the day resting on the couch. It probably would have taken me a few days to recover. BUT because I was using the LP that night, I woke up feeling fine the next day! Oh, and I didn't mention that the house I was staying in had stairs and a very steep driveway and the seminar was also upstairs! I was amazed at how quickly I was seeing results and so excited. On the bus on the Thursday morning I was texting people, saying "I think it's working!"
On Thursday the seminar went until 4pm and I hadn't done as much walking that day so I planned to go for a walk that evening along to the shops to buy myself an ice-cream. When I got home Tanya said she was thinking of going for a walk along to the shops that night to buy me an ice-cream! So we went together! Thursday was the day we were taught the full process and I was amazed to notice changes immediately. After I had had my turn at doing it at the seminar I sat down while the next lady was taken through it and I suddenly noticed that my hands were really relaxed and I hadn't really noticed before that they weren't. I guess it was something floating around in the recesses of my mind but I hadn't really consciously thought about it before.
Friday was an interesting day. To start with Ian asked us to get up one by one and talk about the positive things that we had done or noticed in the past 24 hours. As I was talking I was getting really excited. When I finished Ian said "Who is this imposter? What have you done with Debbie? You're all bubbly and excited." Those of you who have known me a long time will know that that's the real me. But to the people in that room it was a bit of a surprise! And it was the same for all five of us. We all had huge positive change using the LP and we could see it on each other's faces.
After the seminar finished on Friday at 3pm I walked down the road to Newmarket and met up with a friend that I hadn't seen since 1989. It was really good to see her and she was the first person to tell me about the LP last year not long after we met up on Facebook.
When I got home that day I talked to my friend Richard (the friend who did the LP last year) on the phone which was really encouraging because I had been feeling a bit anxious about going out and having to do the LP on my own.
On the Saturday morning my friend Christine (from Bible College) came down and took me out for brunch at Mission Bay. It was a lovely day and I had a nice meal and felt like we could have talked for hours. It was sooo good to see her. That afternoon the shuttle picked me up to take me to the airport. We got there pretty quickly because there were only 2 other people to be picked up on the way. At the airport I had time to check in and visit the bathroom before meeting my friend Marlene. It was nice to be able to tell the lady at Auckland airport that I used the wheelchair on the way up but I was fine now and didn't need it! And I was pretty relaxed when I realised the gate number on my boarding pass was different from the one on the departure board! After waiting in line at the help desk to ask the lady about it and then not given any help, I decided to just head in the direction of the gates which were in the same direction to start with anyway. Just when I came to the point where we had to go one way or the other there was an announcement telling us which gate to go to. I had a lovely flight home with a window seat :)
Upon arriving in Christchurch I was very relaxed. I picked up my car keys from information, collected my luggage and headed out to find my car in the carpark. I had left my car in storage and the company closed at 8pm on Saturday night (my flight arrived at 7.50pm) so they had left the car there for me to pick it up. They are doing major alterations to the airport and there was a map with my keys telling me where my car was parked. I think I was a bit disorientated because of the alterations but I stopped and asked a lady to point me in the right direction and then had no trouble finding it. I drove from the airport to my sister's place and her dog was really pleased to see me, probably mainly because he had been at home by himself all day and she was still out when I arrived! I had a late night that night and decided to wait until Monday to drive home, rather than risk driving while I might be feeling sleepy. On Sunday afternoon I went for a walk around the block in the hot sun with my sister & her dog. Then I went to her church that night. I was standing up and singing and clapping and moving to the music. I don't know when I was last able to do that! I woke up feeling great the next morning and headed into Chch to do some clothes shopping before driving home in the afternoon. I managed to get quite a few clothes that were on sale - woohoo! - and some card-making supplies while I was there. I needed new clothes if I was going to be going out more!
I woke up the next morning feeling fantastic and walked around to my Mum's place to see her. Later that afternoon I started working and have increased the hours I'm doing on my phone survey job. Wednesday morning I called in to see Dad, then went for a walk in the local public gardens and took some photos. On Thursday morning I took my car in for its 6 monthly warrant of fitness check and instead of sitting at KFC eating my lunch, I went walking down the main street and back for half an hour! On Friday I did some gardening and Ian phoned me to do some follow-up. And I went around to visit my sister in the afternoon for a while. This morning I went for a 20 minute walk along the beach and have decided I will try to make that a regular weekly thing.
I am well now and know that I can do anything I want to without paying for it later. It will probably take a while to build up my stamina, but I've started walking and it's only going to get better!
I'm planning to see my doctor this coming week and my pastor wants to hear all about it. This is the beginning of a new life for me and I've decided to do things that I enjoy and will be following God's leading into what He has for me in the future.
After a long time of not doing mornings I suddenly have this new life where I'm waking up at 7am rearing to go and it's really quite strange! I think it's going to take some getting used to, but I'm loving it!
I can't thank God enough! And when I think back to my days at Bible College and see that God put Richard and I in the same cell group, only God knew how He was going to use that 17 years down the track!
Thank you so much to all of you who were praying for me. I really did need it and I really do appreciate it :)
Looking forward to the next phase of my life!
The Very Excited and Renewed Debbie! :D
P.S. Will do a new post with helpful links for those of you who want to know more...
