Question:
I am sold on the surgery but am having a problem with changing the way God made me.

You know what I mean... rearranging the hookups and so forth. Has anyone else dealt with this issue? Please reassure me!    — YvonneBryant (posted on May 16, 2002)


May 16, 2002
God made me with severe scoliosis. That doesn't mean I had to live with it's crippling effects the rest of my life. I had surgery to correct it in 1997. I don't think that having surgery that corrects a medical condition is against God's wishes or will. Obesity is definitely a medical condition. God gave us a lot of things..free will, science, medicine and I truly believe we were meant to take advantage of these things with his blessing. Good luck to you!
   — cathleent

May 16, 2002
This is something that I questioned and researched also. I am a Christian and I wanted to take care of my temple. Some verses that I came across are in Matthew. In this scripture, it is referring to adultry, but I am convinced that it can also be relevent to the sin of gluttony. ~ If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Mat. 5:29-30.~ I look at it this way, our oversized stomachs are causing us to be gluttonous. I had it 'cut off' so that I could no longer be gluttonous. I did the Gwen Shamblin Weigh Down workshop and lost weight, with lots of praying and not being 'tempted', and only having my share of 'my daily bread'. I was still always hungry and gained the weight back. I no longer suffer from 'head hunger' and now get full! I feel that the Lord has led me down this path to an awesome new life and I thank Him for this blessing every day. It was something that I prayed about and know in my heart that this was His answer for me. I hope this helps. You need to seek His approval. Remember it was Him who gave widom and skill to these fine physicians.
   — Cheri M.

May 16, 2002
Oh, also there is an online support group that you might be interested in. www.groups.yahoo.com/group/OSSG-WLSChristian/ Maybe you can find some answers that you need there. I will be praying that the Lord guides you through this.
   — Cheri M.

May 16, 2002
I am very religious and have strong feeling about this aspect. But in many ways, I feel that God understands that we live in an imperfect world full of sickness and other health problems. I feel like I was led to this surgery by the will of God and in a blessing given to my by an Elder of my church the night before I had surgery, he told me that God had led me to it in order to be more healthy, prolong my life, and better fullfill God's purposes here. I honestly believe that. I also believe that God inspires people in the medical and other fields to better our lives. If God didn't want things changed, why did he command the Hebrews to practice circumcision? Anyway, hope this all helps and good luck and God bless you.
   — Dell H.

May 16, 2002
Thank you for asking what I have been thinking! I was afraid I'd sound strange for voicing this, but I have the saame doubts. I finally came to the conclusion that I am using resources to fix surgically what I have done to my body. I have messed it up by overeating for so many years--I have stretched out my stomach and have made myself sick with diabetes. Food is like poison to me, but I keep overeating. I have prayed a lot about it, and I feel like it is God's will for me to do this. I also feel like, if it is not in His plan, it will not work out for me to have the surgery.
   — Want2bslim

May 16, 2002
Funny you should ask this. I moved to Michigan last June and was a door to door vacuum sales person (don't ask) until I found another job (computer analyst currently). One day I was doing a demo and this lady put her hand on my arm and said she wanted to pray for me and pray that I lose weight because I was "too fat". I didn't know if I should cry because someone wanted to pray for me or because I was "too fat"...or just suck her up the vacuum. It was pretty horrible. She said a beautiful prayer right there in front of me, about how she hopes God can help me find a way to lift my "burden" and become healthy. Needless to say I cried...she cried...then she gave me a #*$# cookie. lol Anyway, within a week or two I got a new job at a healthcare corporation doing some analyst stuff, making decent money and with WONDERFUL health insurace that covered WLS. Not only that, but one of my co-workers had the surgery the year before and was able to give some information that got my ball rolling. I believe that was all in God's plan. What are the chances I would try to sell a vacuum 30 miles from home to a woman who felt the need to pray for me while I was in her house...and that I would later be delivered an answer to her prayer? Let God guide you. He has a purpose.
   — Paula Prichard

May 16, 2002
God made the general plan for human beings, but I sincerely doubt he had a hand in giving this one a cleft palate, that one morbid obesity or this other one some other genetic screw-up. The spiritual issue always focuses for me at least on what we do with what happens to us in this crazy old world. I figure God had a good reason for pyloric valves and since I could lose weight without disrupting that I would do so. God made us the most survivable people on the planet. In periods of famine and starvation, I would be a survivor because I can suck the last nuance of nutrition from a grain of rice. But given my belovedly fat ancestors and living in today's society, I ended up morbidly obese, so I fixed that. Good luck to you on deciding what path you choose to take. Personally, I can do a much better job serving my fellow humans now than I could before.
   — merri B.

May 16, 2002
Thank you Sherry for bringing this question up and thank all those who responded, especially Dell and Kathleen. I have been dealing with this issue since before and after surgery. Sometimes, when I find myself doing something I couldn't previously, I feel like how could this be wrong? I feel comforted in your responses.
   — Lisa N M.

May 16, 2002
This is a great question, and I am going to put my two cents in here. First I beleive that God has given our doctors the gift to help us that are morbidly, ( or super obese as I was.. Yes WAS... no longer ) My story on how God has lead me to this surgery starts OVER a year ago. In Dec of 2000 I was laid of from a job that I absouletly loved. The owner of the company decided he didnt want to do this any more and closed down shop. I was out of work for 4 months. During that time, my mother and a ton of other people were praying that God put me in the job I am supposed to be in. To make a long story short I had not received a job offer in 4 months but in 2 days I had received 3 of them. One of the three was very easy to eliminate, but the other two I was having trouble in deciding. One job paid 5000.00 more than the other, but the one that paid less was 6 miles from my home. I decided to take the job with the lesser money. Now shortly after I got there I decided that I didn't like this job much, but then when I decided to start the research on the WLS I found that my insurance covered it AND that I get short term disability. I was able to take 4 weeks off from work to recover and my health has been wonderful. I have always been a very self confident person. Even with as heavy as I was. I know that God has great things in store for me, because as unfair as it is, I know I have been judged because of my weight, not always because of my abilities. Once this weight is off, I have to say I will be saying GOODBYE to the company I am working for now, but only to move on to bigger and better things. From information that I got from my surgeon, this procedure was first found when this procedure was done on cancer patients, to remove cancer. God does not want us to be unhappy or even to be heavy. I don't feel that I am "changing" what God gave me. It was me that made me so heavy, God has given me a tool that will allow me to be the best person I can be, something he has had planned for me from the beginning. I am a true beleiver that God has our whole life planned from the time we are conceived. Its OUR will that seems to end up changing his plans. So I am taking this tool as a way to get back on the road for God's plan for me
   — Diane Rhoads

May 17, 2002
Got 2 more cents to put in: I am a Christian also. Been doing a Bible study at work and I am convinced that God always looks to our hearts. If my heart is that I want to be healthy and repair what I've done to my body using surgeons whose skills come from God himself (we can do NOTHING without Him), then God and I are good. If I'm doing it to look as sexy as some of the gals in my office and then I can flirt around (I'm married) or show off or _____ (fill in the blank anyway you want), then I'm sinning and not using this tool for the right reason. Remember the story about the guy who got caught in the flood on the rooftop and refused the helicoptor, boat, etc. saying "God will save me." When he died and went to heaven, he asked God why He didn't save him. God said, "I sent you the helicoptor, boat, etc." I believe God sent this surgery too........and IF I should happen to go home during the operation or from complications, I figure it's His will and he would have taken me on that date and time anyway. God bless!
   — Nell C.

May 17, 2002
The first person I talked to about my surgery was my Pastor. He told me and my husband that if this was God's will the doors will open. :) The doors sure have been opening! I have heard a lot of people say that when something falls through that it wasn't God's plan right now. God speaks to our hearts. Listen to Him. I would think that placing a surgical solution in front of you that would change your life forever for the good is answer to a prayer. God would not dangle this in front of you and then say haha not for you...... That isn't how God works. He wants nothing but the best for you. He loves you. It is not in His character to tease you. Have you ever watched a surgery? It is amazing the things that our gifted surgeons can do with their hands and their eyes. The miracles they can perform!! Myself, I prayed and prayed God please help me. Help me to heal me. Help me to have more strength and energy. Help me to be a better mom and wife. Cleanse my life from disease. Then I watched a 20-20 episode on WLS. God heard me and he guided me to the solution. Pure and simple. Will it be easy? No. Will it be riskless? No. Will it draw me closer to my heavenly Father? You bet. Take care.
   — Red T.

May 17, 2002
Rationally thinking, if you needed your gallbladder removed-you probably wouldn't hesitate to have it removed, never once thinking "Is this what God wants?" If your gallbladder needs removing you just do it. God gave us brains and with those brains we develop all sorts of life saving proceedures- had He not wanted that, He may have made us "un-advanceable" (that even a word?) mentally... As for me, in my early twenties I always had a wierd voice in my head that 32 was going to be a great year for me. Lo and behold, when I turned 32, I discovered I did have a medical condition (PCOS) that explained why had been so miserable for the past 10 years, I also was pointed towards WLS. It was all to big of a sign for me. Im a firm believer that had He not wanted me to have this surgery He would have made it a bit harder, or a bit more obvious- as many doors were opened very easily to me, and everything ended up pointing to this surgery. It has made my life so much better.
   — Karen R.




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