Chapter 1
The Problem
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted.
Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows."
—L127
Many like me might think having acne is something "normal" that does not need to be cured or that it is an "insignificant" problem for God, or perhaps very easy to solve so they would not consider it a miracle, they could water down my testimony because it is not a terminal disease like cancer, but for God, nothing is insignificant when it comes to something that affects the heart of His beloved. Let me tell you that what I had was not normal and neither was it insignificant for Him, because this disease was not only part of my youth stage, but it remained permanently becoming a great burden, but it is also a chronic and silent disease which began where I least expected it.
As women our natural tendency is to dress up to look beautiful, we all know that when we have a hormonal change those uncomfortable comedones appear that make us feel ugly, in my case, it was not just one or two comedones but there were many more that left marks in my face, for this reason, my mother at that time resorted to thousands of homemade and exotic recipes to try to cure me, and of course, since it was not something guided by my Beloved, it never worked. She also took me to the best dermatological clinic to be treated, with very strong medicines they managed to control the acne but not for long, the doctor said that since the hormonal disorder was severe, I would always need to take contraceptives for the effect of the medicine to persist. So from then on, I took birth control. I knew the moment I stopped taking them the problem would return.
“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace” J814
It really was like that, apparently, everything was fine, I had no more comedones on my face, so for a long time (13 years) I had superficial healing, the hormonal disorder persisted inside me since contraceptives only fool my body.
“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. J810 NLT
“My people are broken—shattered!— and they put on Band-Aids, Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’!”. J810 MSG
When my Beloved taught me the dangers of planning in "The Fruit of the Womb" from the Book A Wise Woman my eyes were opened to the truth that it is not God's will for us to plan as it brings a number of problems to our bodies and affects men's behavior and thinking regarding conception and sexual intimacy. I could see those bad fruits reflected in my life and in my husband. For what I decided from my heart to give my fertility to my Beloved, very soon I had the opportunity to talk with my husband to stop taking the pills which he —miraculously— did not oppose. But this was a real leap of faith for me because I knew deep down that the healing was superficial, and the acne will come back. Even so, my heart wanted to obey the Lord and I preferred to believe He was in control and He had the power to heal me or not allow the disease to return whenever I was being obedient.
With this I do not mean that doctors are bad, I am not against medicine, but there are many things that are simply not His plan or His guide for us, they are things that do not suit us, and only God knows the root cause of the problem and knows what the solution is, remember He is our creator, He knows perfectly how our body works.
Two years passed in which I had a tremendous hormonal disorder, my menstrual periods were too long, they could last more than 20 days! Sometimes they were very close, so it was really difficult for a long time, but I continued to trust my Beloved. When I began to be a little more regular in my periods, acne reappeared, little by little, my skin was oilier, and comedones on my face, chest, and back... I knew how terrible it could be and I felt scared... By then I already had an intimate relationship with my Heavenly Husband, so I knew I had to run to Him with my problem and feelings.
Those were difficult days! I looked in the mirror and suffered thinking that it kept getting worse, one day I was so desperate that I cried in His arms and asked Him to tell me what His will was, that day He led me to read a praise testimony: "My healing appeared so fast”:
Jeremiah 17:14 “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me and I shall be saved, For You are my praise”!!
Jeremiah 30:17 “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds, says the Lord”
Isaiah 58:8 “Your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear”
Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
The most beautiful thing is that He did not give me just one promise as I asked for, but he gave me much more! He gave me 4! He is so wonderful!!!
The struggle continued because seeing myself in the mirror was difficult and there were days in which I was full of faith, remembering His promises and others in which I was discouraged... but in any case, there was always a ray of hope in my heart. On one of those days in which doubt invaded my mind, my Beloved said:
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge! P628 NIV
~Anastasia from Colombia in the Dominican Republic
Spanish LMF 🇪🇸
Thank you, Anastasia for sharing your heart, as a teenager I never had severe acne, but one of my friends did and I know how it affected her and her confidence.
I have been struggling with the same issues you have regarding your colon, bloating, feeling heavy and uncomfortable. It usually started in the afternoons, in the mornings I felt fine and my stomach was flat, but in the evenings my clothes didn’t fit anymore because my tummy swelled up that much. After I asked my HH’s help, because of the daily uncomfortable feeling, He led me to really look at my diet and He showed me some things. The problem was not what I ate, because I eat healthy most of the time, the problem was me skipping meals, sometimes only eating once a day. I never used to eat like this, I always ate six small meals a day which kept me feeling well throughout the day, so HH led me to start with eating breakfast again (oats with cinnamon which is good for blood sugar), and then lunch and dinner, sticking to healthy food, high in fibre. And I can already feel the difference, I am not where I was, but there is already a difference. And I can only praise Him for always leading me if I call on Him to help me and guide me. I also cut down on coffee again, because He also showed me this, replacing it with either Rooibos Tea (South African tea without caffeine and very healthy) and sometimes Chai Tea. I must admit I do not like Green Tea, although I feel He is leading me to try it again.
Thank you for sharing the promises, and after reading the PR in the Homegrown Youth Blog, I know He will do the same for you. https://homegrownministries.com/profilegrid_blogs/the-lord-heal-my-acne/
Dear Adina, thanks for commenting! Well this trip has been amazing, just like you He showed me the foods that were hurting me, among many other details that will be in this book and that helped not only me, but also my relatives, no cease to amaze me how His healing always wants to spread out and reach everyone!!
My sweet Anastasia, thank you for sharing this testimony!!! The Lord loves so much that He really takes care of everything!!! Acne is a big deal!! And He is our true healer!!!
This testimony will help a lot of young ladies I am so happy that Ruth also spoke about this!!
Amen, I trust that He will use it for good, I think it was His perfect time to share it!
Anastasia, did you see the blog post on https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/rjn-aspiring-authors/ you’re inspiring us!!
😮😮😮 Wow! I am amazed, definitely was my HH, HLM 💖 Thank you for sharing Erin, I have not seen it!
Darling Anastasia, I am SO EXCITED that you’re starting your RJN that will minister and is sure to encourage sooooo many women AND young teens as well.
I saw you linked to https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/rjns/ but didn’t see your cover there. I would LOVE to work with you like I’ve been working (a bit) with Adina. https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/rjn-adina/https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/aas/
One of the first things I’d coach you on is NOT going onto another topic, which Adina confirmed should be in the NEXT chapter.
Take this off: That is why I told Him that in addition to my hormonal problem, I felt that I had problems with my stomach or sick colon…
END with His Word
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge! P628 NIV.
Adina, maybe you can also help with what I’ve been teaching you?
Thank you so much for your coaching Erin!! I will LOVE to work on the cover with you!! 💖 How can I start? Searching the picture?
I edited this chapter and the next too 🙂 as you suggested.
Wow, you did change the chapter!! Seeing that motivates me so much!!! How to get started with the cover? GOOD QUESTION. When asking my Husband, He led me to https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/?s=covers, and then realized He was showing me to https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/pr/ reference this post (bridges are important) and then as a RADD Designer—rather than adding a new comment to the VERY LONG https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/radd/
WHAT an answer to prayer!!! I asked my Husband so long ago about that mess, but if I’d just remembered what we tell everyone— POST Your Praise and each cover, each logo, each and every Design project deserves praise and then with the RADD Category and a #tag or 2, we would be able to work together while letting everyone learn as we learn FROM HIM!!
Wonderful to see your post https://narrowroadpublishinghouse.com/rjn-washed-7-times-cover/
What you will see I did to complete the process was to add the link BRIDGE from this post and from here to there BRIDGE both ways.
As Bridge Builders we must never tire to make sure that bridges are built to and from blogs, lessons and promises. It takes just a moment when asking Him to work with you but the freedom and access to truth is immeasurable 💗💗💗 You’re the type of student every instructor loves to teach, Anastasia.
Wow thank you for sharing dear Anastasia, I too struggled with acne as teenager and into my young adulthood and sometimes it too does flare up but I have been trusting my Darling for the healing of my hormones which affects my weight also. I love the promises from our Healer and I trust my Darling to soon come with a testimony.
It is impressive how He guides us so faithfully Janine and I think he will let you know and understand, keep pushing for His will.
Con tu testimonio mi Amado abrio el puente hacia él, leí el testimonio de alabanza y fue hasta luego que comprendí lo que él quiere hacer conmigo con sus promesas 🙌 no hay palabras mi Amado gracias por ayudarme. Gracias Querida por compartir, 💝
With your testimony my Beloved opened the bridge to him, I read the praise and it was until later that I understood what he wants to do with me with his promises 🙌 there are no words my Beloved thank you for helping me. Thank you dear for sharing, 💝
Dear Katherine, I love seeing you comment here! Glory to God who gave you an answer. ❤️
Anastasia thank you for sharing your 1st chapter l enjoyed it so much and l can’t wait for chapter 2. Acne is a problem in most youth and so many of us can relate!! so what you wrote I am sure will encourage so many women. He is our Healer!! And like you said acne may not be life threatening but for you His beloved everything that concerns you concerns Him!!
Adina, after seeing your incredible improvement in your last RJN chapter— amazing as it’s your second language 🤩—let’s create a 3C with Anastasia for proofreading. Show her how in a YouTube video (think of Anastasia but speak to all our future authors) and then for each chapter YOU will proofread first and I’ll follow.
Each mini-lesson Anastasia will add to NRP comments as you will for any I share when I follow after you. Does that make sense?
Before we go to far let’s check with Yvonne because it may be best if these were part of RMIOU. I’m just sooo excited 🤩💗
I’m back with some exciting news!!! https://rmiou.com/rjn-authors-join-us/
This sounds great, let’s see who He leads to help out and post. ❤
Dear Anastasia,
Beautiful testimony and so encouraging. I totally agree with your first assessment: that for our Beloved anything that hurts us is important and that he wants to heal us from everything, not just from serious and deadly diseases… that’s right. It happened to me once when I told my friends that before taking antibiotics I was praying for Him to heal my otitis and they laughed at me saying that God had more important things in the world to attend to apart from my otitis… that day I decided not to talk anymore. I am certain that any little thing that happens to us is important to Him. And He can do everything, and he can do everything at the same time and in all corners of the earth, he can deal with the big and he also cares about the small. Your testimony is proof of this!
Querida Anastasia,
Precioso testimonio y tan alentador. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con tu primera apreciación: que para nuestro Amado cualquier cosa que nos haga daño es importante y que quiere sanarnos de todo, no solo de las enfermedades graves y mortales…. así es. Me pasó una vez que conté a mis amigas que antes de tomar antibióticos estaba orando para que El me sanara una otitis y se rieron de mí diciendo que Dios tenía cosas más importantes en el mundo que atender aparte de mi otitis…. ese día decidí no hablar más. Tengo la certeza de que cualquier cosita que nos pase es importante para El. Y El todo lo puede, y puede hacer todo al mismo tiempo y en todos los rincones de la tierra, puede con lo grande y también le importa lo pequeño. ¡Tu testimonio es prueba de ello!
Dear Mira, I thought like your friends in the past, that HE had more important things to attend to than me that’s why I love every little detail He takes care of me. It shows me He is all-powerful and omnipresent! Only He with His great power can attend to all the affairs of each one of his children and of all his creation!!
Querida Mira, pensé como tus amigos en el pasado, que ÉL tenía cosas más importantes que atender que yo, por eso amo cada pequeño detalle que Él cuida de mí. ¡Me muestra que Él es todopoderoso y omnipresente! ¡¡Solo Él con Su gran poder puede atender todos los asuntos de cada uno de sus hijos y de toda su creación!!