You are Valuable. You have roots, and there is identity beneath the damage.
Conversations that dismantle shame and the idea that struggle equals failure. Exploring who you were before survival mode—and who you still are underneath it all.
You Are Valuable: There Is Identity Beneath the Damage
Many people living with Lyme disease, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, chronic illness, trauma, or prolonged adversity slowly begin to confuse what happened to them with who they are.
The diagnosis, struggle, exhaustion, and limitations becomes their identity.
But a garden is not defined by its weeds.
And a person is not defined by their wounds.
You may have forgotten You have roots.
There is an identity beneath the damage.
There is a person underneath the survival mode.
There is a story beneath the struggle.
I want to take you through the typical characteristics of weeds, the thistles and thorns types that we get rid of in our gardens.
Weeds have rampant vines that smother, strangle, crush, and destroy everything around them. Weeds spread by runners, seed, suckers, roots, plantlets, and bird droppings. Weeds reproduce incredibly fast; some can completely hide the surface of still water in a short amount of time. Many weed seed stay viable, capable for growing long time in the soil. Weeds are parasites, either partially or totally, on crop plants. Weeds harbor insects, pests and diseases. Weeds compete for vegetation. Weeds have ability to grow in many types of climates and soils. Weeds imitate other plants, and take on different forms. Weeds survive damaging weather.
The weed in relation to life situations, people, and things, is the theme to this entire book. Think about the many kinds of weeds in our lives: certain aspects of family and children, unbroken ties to the past, assumptions and taking one another for granted, comparing, ignoring boundaries, or not making boundaries, and roles. We will delve into each one as gardeners, created in the image of the Master Gardener, looking toward becoming master gardeners ourselves.
For many people navigating complex health challenges, survival becomes necessary. You learn to manage symptoms, avoid triggers, research treatments, navigate appointments, and make it through one difficult day at a time. (JUST LIKE ALL plants)
Survival mode serves a purpose.
But survival mode was never meant to become your permanent identity.
Over time, something subtle can happen. Things you say will become deeper negatives…some examples are:
Instead of saying, “I have Lyme disease,” you begin to think, “I am Lyme disease.”
Instead of saying, “I am struggling,” you begin to believe, “I am broken.”
Instead of saying, “I am experiencing limitations,” you begin to believe, “I have no value unless I can do what I used to do.”
The struggle becomes the lens through which you see yourself.
Yet Scripture tells a different story.
Scriptures that pair beautifully
- Isaiah 61:3 — “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD…”
- Jeremiah 17:7-8 — The tree planted by water whose roots remain deep even during drought.
- Psalm 139:13-14 — “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- Ephesians 2:10 — “For we are His workmanship…”
- John 15:1-5 — Remaining connected to the Vine.
- Isaiah 43:1 — “I have called you by name; you are Mine.”
- Romans 8:38-39 — Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
A tree may lose branches during a storm. It may carry scars. It may bear less fruit for a season. But its roots still remain.
The storm is not the identity of the tree. The roots are.
When Yahweh looks at you, He does not primarily see your diagnosis. He sees His creation.
He sees His workmanship. He sees someone made in His image. He sees value that existed before the struggle began and value that remains long after the struggle ends.
Perhaps one of the greatest lies shame tells us is this: “If I am struggling, I must be failing.”
But struggle is not failure.
The farmer and gardener does not look at a dormant tree in winter and declare it worthless.
The Gardener understands seasons. He knows that growth can be invisible. He knows that roots often deepen before fruit appears. He knows that healing and restoration are rarely linear.
So today, consider these questions:
Who were you before survival mode?
What dreams existed before fear took over?
What gifts still remain beneath the exhaustion?
What parts of yourself have been buried under years of simply trying to make it through the day?
And The most important question: What does Yahweh say about who you are? Identity is discovered by looking at the One who planted the garden. You are valuable not because of what you accomplish, how productive you are, how healthy you feel today, or even if you have think you have figured out everything. You are valuable because your value was established by the One who created you.
The weeds, diagnosis, struggle, and negative roots are not your identity.
And underneath it all, the Master Gardener still knows exactly who you are. YOU know exactly who you are.
I healed because I continued to go back to the “who am I” and “What is my body in its fullest potential”. I continued to remind myself that I would not live with or in the struggle of a diagnosis. Comparing my years of health logs with my years of personal journal is interesting to say the least; Loads of patterns and realizations come out in both. In one entry, I wrote, “slow down, be steady and consistent.” My health logs show improvements all around, physically and emotionally, and at the same time, show all the crazy messy parts in detail. Matthew 12 talks of a spirit being cleansed out of a house and leaving the house, then returning to find it cleansed; it brought 7 other spirits more unclean than itself and the house becomes worse than it was before cleansing.” This is how weeds grow. This shows how we must stay alert even after cleansing and renewal. I journal how I am mending, growing, finding joy, releasing anger and loving me. I healed from the inside out…it feels great to know it is all possible. Some of the tools I utilize during the healing other than food changes, were:
hormone therapy, massage therapy, new chiropractor, bible therapy, eye therapy, life coaching therapy (because this therapist needed some therapy).
In our garden, when I was going through the healing process from AG and Lyme, and learning so much, my husband was help weed the garden rows and around the plants, I wondered why it was taking him so long to do a row. I had done two rows already. I observed what he was doing but kept on doing what I was doing. A week later, we are in the garden again, weeding. My husband was doing the same thing as before. I was finishing the weeding the next morning and it hit me: I have always done it this way, and he has always done it that way. I decided to compare the rows, and low and behold, his were clean. I weed with the hoe and leave the weeds in the rows, upside down, or just uprooted. He weeds with the hoe and picks them up, puts them in a bucket, and throws them out of the garden. That is when it the light bulb came on in my brain. His rows are always less weedy the next time I go to weed. He is slow because he leaves little trace of any weeds. I slowed down and threw the weeds to away from the garden. I used a rake to rake the rows of my messy weeding. I went down each of my rows to check for weeds I had missed. It was worth the time to do a better job and put them out of the garden away from the plants completely. Weeding has been easier and less time consuming ever since.
Weeding must be complete—the whole root and all parts with it. Pull the weed from close to ground or use a hoe to get the entire root. Make sure it is rooted up, and soil knocked off, and throw it out of the garden. Weed the meager, in addition to the sizable stuff. The small, meager stuff grows quickly when thought to be too small to worry about. Some weeds may look innocent but concealed beneath are the roots of thorns and thistles. To get every weed out requires a lot of digging, pulling, and hoeing. Weeding takes time; it is worth it in the end.
Weeding must be continuous. We must be out in the garden daily to pick the fruit, yes, but also to take the time to weed. If we are weeding every day, then there is no chance there will ever be a take-over, and our fruit will last longer and be more abundant. Our fruit should rule the garden!
Weeding gives you a chance to study and make mental notes of what is going on with the life in your garden, to observe successes, to catch potential failures, to learn to identify pests or beneficial insects, and to cultivate your best garden. Weeding gives you a reason to be in the garden.
Weeds in the garden are like the weeds in our bodies and our hearts; they spread out across, as well as down deep.
Isaiah 58:11 (NASB)
11 “And the Lord will continually guide you…
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not [b]fail.
“The weeds may have grown around you, but they never changed what was planted beneath them.”
IN CONCLUSION
Shame and Fear are the bottom line causes for all negative issues. These things take hold by graveling with our hearts and minds. They attack our thresholds, and tear down our ability to let go. We build expectations in everything. Expectations are not healthy no matter how much we twist the truth of the word. Expectations lead to distress in body, mind and soul. Expectations lead to “unforgivingness” (unforgiveness as most call it) with others, self, situations, and things. (note: unforgivingness is NOT just with humans)
Unforgiveness leads to stress and anxiety of all levels. Unforgiveness is poison. The way to release stress and anxiety is to get rid of the toxins creating it, one at a time, pulling them out like weeding a garden. Forgiveness, releasing, and serving heal the heart (quite literally) and give your health back.
Col. 3:13 reads, “ bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
As the old hymn says, “Nothing between my soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen. Nothing preventing the least of His favor; keep the way clear! Let nothing between.”
Commit to pulling one weed a day, or even just one weed a week. Be consistent. Be patient and compassionate with yourself. Be consistent in what Yahweh has placed before you. Be patient with His timing. Be compassionate with yourself as He continues His work in you.
Be consistent with the steps you can take today with AG and Lyme and other complex health challenges. Be patient when progress feels slow. Be compassionate with yourself on the difficult days. Your worth is not measured by your symptoms, and healing is rarely a straight line.
Take the next faithful step. Trust the process. Extend yourself the same grace you would offer a loved one walking this path.
The weeds may be thick right now, but growth is still happening beneath the surface. The Master Gardener has not forgotten what He planted in you.
Remember this: you were formed with intention, not mistake. What has tangled around you does not define what God placed within you. Healing is not about becoming someone new, but about returning—little by little—to what was always true.
Take what stirred your heart today. Lay down what does not belong to you. And trust that growth, like faith, often happens quietly, beneath the surface. Fear is a liar.
https://churchofgodinternational.subspla.sh/bz3x9ps I was a guest on this program recently speaking about the book I published, and the encouragement to healing. Share this, check it out anywhere podcasts are shown or heard.
Also see my personal new podcast being published twice a month (there are 5 episodes out now). https://www.naturalhelp.net/podcast/
Purchase and share the book : Weeds, A Health Journey of Struggle, Discovery and Healing.
Contact me if you would like me to help you through AG, Lyme, or other complex health challenges you may face. https://www.naturalhelp.net/ Healing is REAL.
