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My senior high-school student daughter was 168 cm tall and was chubby. As she entered a high school, she became even chubbier. One day she said to me, “Mom, I will go on a diet.” I answered her casually, telling her that she had better lose some weight. From this point she went into a diet. In the beginning she followed a normal diet, having a banana for breakfast and fewer snacks. Without seeing a good result of diet, she bought a book on calories and started to count calories for meals in reference to a book on calories.
All Started with Diet
My senior high-school student daughter was 168 cm tall and was chubby. As she entered a high school, she became even chubbier. One day she said to me, “Mom, I will go on a diet.” I answered her casually, telling her that she had better lose some weight. From this point she went into a diet. In the beginning she followed a normal diet, having a banana for breakfast and fewer snacks. Without seeing a good result of diet, she bought a book on calories and started to count calories for meals in reference to a book on calories.
My daughter who does everything wholeheartedly got hooked into diet soon. She began to take meals based on a calorie counting, and saw a result. In the process she began to be bizzare. I said to her, “Stop your diet!” but she had a strong desire of losing more and more weight.
Abnormal Change Taking Place Mentally and Physically
One morning when I was making a lunch box, she started to holler all of a sudden. She told me there was too much rice in the box. She started to pick some side dishes out of it, saying they were no good. She didn’t listen to me no matter what I told her, and we quarreled at table every day. She already stopped accepting any food. She got isolated from her family and stopped going to school. She made an abnormal physical change: she had absence of menses and had a rash; and she started to lose hair and was dizzy. Off course I thanked God even for that, and continued to pray for her, but I felt nothing would work.
Sitting around a Table in Tears
Her situation got worse and worse. I kept crying every day, my husband and I blamed each other for the situation. My younger daughter in the fifth grade got mentally ill, and our family was almost breaking down. One dinner time, I told my daughter to sit at the table even if she didn’t eat because her sister Cannan was worried about her. After a while she came with a deadly pale face to sit at the table. We were all nervous and started to eat in silence. Naturally she didn’t eat. When I looked up at her sister Cannan, she held a bowl in her hand with tears streaming down her face without saying a word. I tried to make her laugh by telling her she would make a ochazuke (rice with tea poured over it) of tears. In response to that, her grandmother, Cannan and I all burst into tears, instead of laughing. Then suddenly my daughter said to us, “I’m sorry.” She kept crying, saying, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
One day, the church announced that the U.S. Merlin Team would be sent to accept application. By the way, my daughter and I belong to a praising team in the church. Our team has a prayer meeting every Saturday, and we prayed for the past one year that all our team members could join in the U.S. team and sing as a praising band on the street live in Hollywood. I applied on faith for the team, but thought it was impossible to go because of cost and my daughter’s condition.
It got definite that other team members beside my daughter would go on the mission trip to the U.S. I felt very sorry for other team members. However, they didn’t give up on us and continued to make a confession that my daughter and I could go together with them. Meanwhile, my daughter spoke out her heart’s desire, saying that she would like to go to the U.S. However, we were still short of money and my daughter didn’t accept to eat yet. So the situation was absolutely impossible. My daughter and I united the heart and prayed together after so long.
“Go to America.”
One day after a while, when we started dinner, my daughter was called by her grandmother. She said to my daughter, “If you are healed by going to America, go. I will give you money for the trip. I’ m afraid to send you there alone, so go with your mom.” She smiled brilliantly. However, her younger sister Cannan began to cry with a rice bowl in her hand. She said that she’d like to go as well. Their grandmother said to her, “Sorry, sorry. You go with them, too, Cannan,” and gave us money for the trip for the three.
Eating in-flight meals completely!
I was still worrisome about her who couldn’t eat yet, but we headed for the U.S. in anticipation of God. We arrived at Narita Airport, and went into a shop there. To my surprise, my daughter bought a piece of cake she never had taken and put it in her bag. Looking at her doing, I felt that she was taking a step of faith. We boarded the airplane and, meanwhile, meals were served. My daughter was looking at a meal for a while and started to eat. I didn’t talk to her and pretended not to see her. She finished so easily eating the whole meal which wasn’t so tasty. I praised the Lord for that. I was convinced that God surely led us to go to the U.S. On board after that, and throughout the time in the U.S., she was able to eat every meal and put a smile back on her face.
We were able to stand to sing as a praising band in Hollywood and in Santa Monica, which we had been praying for. Also, Brother Steve(*) and his friends listened to our sing to give us comments. Looking back on the past, I thought that God permit all this difficulty to take place. Because we had this difficulty, we were able to go to the U.S. and to stand as a praising band. Because of that, my daughter experienced God’s healing and, above all, she learned His deep love and a blessing by obeying Him. Now she can eat more than before and gradually is getting over physically. She is well enough to go to school.
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory to God. ⅡCorinthians 4:15
*Editor’s Note: Bro. Steve is responsible for the world largest Gospel Music Workshop of America(GNWA), West Coast and also is a famous announcer who has been awarded twice for the best announcer. He attends the same church as a singer Stevie Wonder who is also a friend of his.
Keiko Nagato in Yokkaichi City
Reprinted from the issue of Aug. 2009 of the monthly magazine “A Rainbow in the Clouds”
God is Love.