By Kelly Rector 

God writes the best stories, and I am anxious to read yours!

Though many of you know my story with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), many of you may not know that God has been healing me now at a rapid pace. Rapid, in my own terms, has actually been the last 3 years. Since the onset of my illness in 1998, I have been prayed over, prophesied over, anointed with oil, and encouraged by God’s loving and faithful people. In the beginning, I knew in my heart that I would one day be healed. Others also prophesied to me that I would be healed. But a miraculous healing never happened. God had other plans for my healing.

However, over time, I lost hope in that healing for my life. I just pressed on, though pressing on was only rejected by my body. Eventually, in 2022, my body gave up. I crashed 3 times from October 30th to December 21st and was again debilitated, couchridden, and housebound. God was sending me a message that something drastically had to change. I had to give up teaching as a second job. That was the first step. Then, He told me to read the Bible in a year and journal all that I learned. He also told me to watch free CFS recovery videos on YouTube and to go back on my POTS exercise plan. From watching the videos, I soon learned that brain retraining and addressing the nervous system was part of CFS recovery, and I knew I only wanted to do this the Lord’s way, according to His Word. So, I sought Christ-centered CFS programs for help, but I couldn't find any.

A few months later in April 2023, God dropped a year-long program in my lap called the Set Free Academy, which at the time was out of Canada. It was an intensive Christ-based program to heal the mind and the nervous system, digging into the subconscious to heal past trauma and wrong belief systems. I knew that in order for me to recover from CFS, I first had to see myself as worth taking care of. My head knew that my worth only came from Christ, but my behavior didn’t reflect this. I kept pushing my body as if my worth had something to do with my own efforts and works. I had to get this truth deep into my heart. This truly was foundational.

My body did improve some, but I still couldn’t keep up with life and I crashed again right before Mother’s Day on May 11, 2023. I became so depressed and discouraged. I realized I also needed a CFS-specific program, but which one should I choose? Then, during VBS week, God dropped CFS Health into my lap and I jumped right in. This program, out of Australia, was founded and run by people who had suffered from CFS and then made complete recoveries. And they had been fully recovered for many years. Everything I learned in the program made complete sense and I finally saw what I had been doing wrong for years. I finally had the tools I needed to recover. And I had a lot of work to do. It was time to change and transform. The Lord was with me, but I had to be the one to do the hard work. No one else could do it for me. This was not fast miraculous healing, but difficult, yet transformational healing, requiring consistency and perseverance on my part.

God was setting me free in ‘23 and I saw it. One day, it hit me. God was, at the same time, healing my spirit, mind, and body. And then, I wondered why? Why now, God? What are you preparing me for? What is around the corner?  

And then, around the corner in late 2024, I learned more of what God was preparing me for, at least for this season of life. My best friend had her own health crisis. A surgery that was supposed to improve the quality of her life left her completely debilitated and led to her coming very close to death 3 times in a year's time. She is on a feeding tube and there is more surgery in her future. God knew that she would need me and He knew I would want to be there for her, as she has been there for me over the years. God sees what we cannot. He knew that in my prior chronic state of health, there was no way that I would have been able to be there for her. I would have tried and then crashed. My body never would have made it, but in this time, He has sustained my health. Even as I have recovered so much, I haven’t been able to be there all the time. But God has provided an amazing team of people who have been there, when her parents or I couldn’t. God is so good! And even though this season has rocked us, God has provided in so many ways through His people loving, caring, being there and providing in so many unexpected ways. God has sustained her life and her daughter still has her mama. Thank you, Jesus!!

In addition to God providing in these amazing ways, God has gotten my attention through birds. In 2023, as I read my Bible on the porch, hummingbirds would visit me often. A hummingbird would fly and hover about a foot and a half from my face. It stayed facing me until I would look up, say “hello,” and then it would fly off. This happened so many times that I finally asked God what it meant. He said, “Stay close to me, Kelly.” Then, in 2024, when I donated the couch that had physically supported my body for 21 years of crashes, I saw a bald eagle flying overhead as the couch got lifted onto a trailer to go to Hannah’s Harbor and be a part of other women’s recovery stories. Letting go of this couch was very emotional for me. I bought it when I was finally able to take a step of independence and live on my own again, after living with my parents for 4 years prior because I was too ill to care for myself. The bald eagle was a precious and personal reminder that God was with me and was healing me. One of the scriptures I held tightly to over the years was Isaiah 40:31.

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up 

with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

Through the many years, I learned to wait on the Lord for many things. I am grateful for this time and these lessons. I am grateful that He loved me enough to not allow me to remain as I was. He used this illness and other trials to prune and shape me for His purposes, and I am ever so grateful. I had to un-become the person I thought I was supposed to be in this world, to truly become the person I was created to be for Him.  

In May, I will be 3 years crash-free. God is renewing my mind and strength, and He is healing my body. After 25 prior years of constant pushing and crashing, I recognize that His timing and ways are perfect. God's restoration is always right on time. 

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; 

You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”

Psalm 30:11-12