Stories of perseverance: faith through chronic illness

by Melisa Reimer

I had the privilege of growing up on a farm in SW MN.  I was the daughter of a livestock and grain farmer.  My mother was a nurse. I had good fun and hard work rock picking, bean walking, doing cattle and hog chores, and showing pigs at the fair.

In college, I studied nursing.  I met my husband, Jeff, in 1990 when I took a summer mission trip to work as a student nurse in Shell Mera, Ecuador.  Jeff was going home to his missionary parents and happened to know the language and transportation quite well.  We married in April 1992 and dreamed of going overseas as foreign missionaries.  However, God had other plans for our lives.

Looking  back on my life, I was sick as a child, but didn’t know it. When I was in nursing school, I felt very fatigued.  At one point, I fell asleep during Chemistry lab while standing up. God placed two Christians in my nursing class who helped me get help.  However, any diagnosis was elusive.

In the Fall of 1995, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon, one of my life long dreams.  Even though I was battling an injury, I was excited to complete the marathon.  In the following days, when I anticipated recovering, my body began to cripple.  I did not recover.  The stress of the marathon brought to the surface what I had been battling, System Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

While SLE affects people differently, it damaged my kidneys.  For over three years, we fought to save my kidneys.  However, in 1998, I came to realize my kidneys were failing.  After an effort using chemotherapy to save my kidneys, they were lost.  The next year was a difficult journey through kidney dialysis, often ending up in the hospital emergency department.

My mom sought the Lord and generously chose to give me life a second time in 1999 when she donated one of her kidneys to me.  What a blast and utter joy the two of us had after the transplant surgery when we saw each other.  The transplant affects the donor more because they are going down to one kidney.  Nevertheless, she did it and is still doing well.  I experienced going from close to death to becoming alive again right away after my transplant.

My husband and I are currently studying Ephesians in a Bible Study group.  Through my physical near death to life experience, I can understand better being dead in our trespasses and then becoming aliveagain in Christ because of the experience.  We are blessed with this amazing gift of life.

Within four years of my kidney transplant, we saw God’s provision in new ways.  Jeff and I moved to Rochester in the Summer of 2000.  Soon thereafter, we began a new journey, which led us to Ukraine for the adoption of our daughter, Anna. Jeff’s and my family heritages come out of Ukraine.  While the adoption process was not easy and filled with many challenges, we saw God’s hand leading and providing each step of the way.

However, the Lupus did not become inactive as expected and attacked every two years over the next several years.  After 12 years, the transplanted kidney my mom gave me was destroyed by Lupus, and I was again in kidney failure, needing a kidney.  God met this need in an unexpected and beautiful way.  A friend posted my need for a kidney donation in her church’s newsletter.  Two people responded, and one   matched me.  I met him and his wife the day before the surgery and was overwhelmed with the evidence of God being at work.  He said the day prior to reading about the need in the newsletter, he had asked God how he could demonstrate to his children how to give sacrificially.  I was the one blessed with his obedience and humility.  Now I have had that second kidney for 13 years.  

I have 4 kidneys, but only 1 works. My little niece was quizzical about that at the time.  “Why would you have 4 and grandma only has 1?” (smile)

My journey through chronic illness has had a hard and beautiful impact on my faith. I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet, I had not personally faced this degree of suffering, nor the confusion over what was happening physically, nor the fear of how long this chronic illness would last.  However, God taught me through these trials, showing me He had a good purpose for them.

When I was first diagnosed, I was the Health Service Director at a college.  I went over to the Bible and Theology department head and had a perspective-changing conversation.  I needed to accept that we live in a fallen world and suffering happens.  I also knew deep down that there were some sins that I had to deal with personally. For me, it was a multifaceted conclusion – sin, fallen world, genetics, etc. This was all part of God’s plan for me to draw me closer to Himself.

As I have looked back over my journey, I see it as a SEVERE MERCY from God. It was severe. It was ugly and sometimes still is. Many things were stripped away. Walking was hard – even to get to the bathroom. It was also hard to make my own food, play piano (my fingers were too swollen to even move them), pray, think clearly, drive independently, get groceries, among other symptoms. I have had and will have long term effects from 25 years of immune suppression.

And it has been mercy. There has been such deep inner working in my heart to trust God’s hand and to believe that what He does is good. When I was in it, I didn’t always feel that it was good. I was able to say the cliche, but God helped me and is helping me to truly grow in my faith without sight and believe the truth no matter what I felt. That growth has often come after a hard medical experience. He loves me so much that He has allowed me to have this illness and the severity of it, to draw me closer to Him and to show me my sin.

It wasn’t my perseverance but God’s that is the story here. God was and is the one orchestrating in my life. God was always there with me. As examples:

• God provided Godly women friends, who read scripture to me for an hour at a time so that while I was on high dose of steroids and my brain and my body were “blitzing” with the steroid, I had truth poured in.

• God has used people upon people to bring meals (some of you did that!), send me cards, take me to dialysis and Dr. appts, clean my house and pray!

• And many more stories of God’s gentle hand preservering me and us.

I have found God to be good even though there are times I have struggled to see that. In that dark time, three different people from different parts of my life said, “There is light at the end of the tunnel, Melisa.” I did not know how long the tunnel was. I did not see the light. I thought I might die. Through their God-given encouragement, they gave me hope when things went on so long and I had no answers.  

God sees you. He sees you right where you are. And He is surely going to hold you and provide for what you need. He truly is good.

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Melisa Reimer is wife to Jeff and mom to Anna. She enjoys walking, managing her home, studying the Bible, caring about three widow neighbors, helping others navigate the healthcare system, combining traditional and functional medicine, and as of late, shooting a bow.