I realized today that this May will be three years since my daughter graduated from college. It doesn’t seem like it could possibly be true, but it is. Consequently, it is also true that May will be three years since Janice had her thyroid removed. Before this happened, I had no idea all that the thyroid did. According to the Society for Endocrinology, the “thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate the body’s metabolic rate as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development, mood and bone maintenance.” Hard to believe that this approximately 2-inch-long, butterfly shaped gland does so much and has such an impact on the body.
When the thyroid “malfunctions” it can cause all sorts of problems depending on whether or not it is over producing or under producing, hyperthyroidism versus hypothyroidism. When it has to be removed one will have to take Synthroid or the generic, levothyroxine, for the rest of one’s life. Consequently, shortly after the surgery Janice began taking this medication and her blood levels had to be checked regularly to adjust the medicine to the proper amount for her. Now she has reached the point where her blood levels only have to be checked once a year and her medicine may or may not be adjusted based on what the bloodwork says. She actually had her medicine reduced slightly this past October.
This got me to thinking, the thyroid is good, even necessary in our bodies until it malfunctions, then it becomes a problem. There are things in our life that can be good and even necessary for a season, but if we remain in them, they can become a problem. Sometimes God will want to remove some things from our lives that might be hindering our growth that were not a problem in the past. It could also be that God wants us to do something, is leading us to do something, that we have never done before that we are reluctant to do. If we remain where we are, what we are doing instead of doing what we should be doing, has become a problem.
Jesus said it this way in John 15:1-2:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. – John 15:1 (CSB17)
Sometimes God needs to ‘prune’ our lives to remove the stuff that is keeping us from producing the fruit that we should be and could be producing. Don’t resist the work of the master vinedresser or gardener. He knows what needs to be done to make us spiritually healthy so that we can produce fruit for His Kingdom.
In His Amazing Grace,
Dan