“Pain, pain, go away”

Kerissa • September 10, 2012

Thank you so much, everyone, for your prayers!  This past week was really hard.  Let’s just say all that happened reminded me once again to fully depend on God and not on man.  I’ve had to turn to Christ because there was no one else to turn to !  Friends, when all is going “wrong” in your life, turn to the Lord for help.  He does not disappoint!

Last night, everyone went to bed really early, but once again, I couldn’t fall asleep.  My hand was hurting, and the base of my skull felt horrible.  So, after trying to get to sleep for about 2 hours, I decided to head downstairs.  I turned on the lamp and read my Bible on our couch in the living room.  I’m going through the book of Job, so chapter 15 was next.  It was about Eliphaz accusing Job and saying that Job doesn’t fear God.  Haha, now, that wasn’t what I wanted to read for comfort, so I closed my Bible and asked God, “Show me what You want me to read.”  The first thing my eye landed on when I opened the pages again was, “The Lord promises peace.”  Isn’t that awesome?  God is good!  It’s like He wanted me to remember that in the night.

This is what I read: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

I meditated on those two verses before trying to go back to bed.  And, you know what?  I was able to get to sleep that night!

This morning, we found out that my pain dr. is not in the clinic today.  Not sure why….he could be sick or maybe he teaches on Mondays since he’s a professor, too, at the hospital..  Still don’t feel good.  And I almost wanted to go to urgent care Friday night, but the dr. on call at the pain center said they would probably just admit me as a patient to the hospital and run some tests since clinics are closed on weekends.  Soo, I didn’t want to do that yet..

I’ll keep you posted!  Thank you again for your support on this journey!

By Kerissa Lee October 19, 2025
Dear friends, At the beginning of October, I started taking a new medication for the autoimmune disease. I thought I was tolerating it just fine, but after several days passed, I began experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, weakness all over, and increased pain. 🙁 It’s like I’m experiencing another “mito crash.” I found out that this specific lupus medication affects mitochondria. That is, it causes an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, causes cell damage and oxidative stress. I sure wish the rheumatologists would have known about this before prescribing. But I have to remember that Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome is rare, and they’re not “mito experts.” Anyways, the last time I felt like this was back in May.. I’m so grateful to God that I haven’t needed to be hospitalized from this, but at the same time, I’m also sad that this happened at all, especially because I had such a nice stretch of stable health. I’d really appreciate your prayers, that this muscle weakness can resolve soon, and that this increased pain all over will get back to my baseline. Every time I have a “mito crash,” it feels like I’m fighting the flu which always sucks. The pain has been hard to bear. And whenever I’m in the thick of it, it’s difficult to remember that this too will eventually pass. 😢 Pray that I will endure and follow Jesus’ example like this passage from Hebrews 12:1-2– “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” Thank you all so much for praying for me. ❤️
By Kerissa Lee October 4, 2025
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3
By Kerissa Lee September 3, 2025
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23