Take the GP Challenge.

What would you do if you knew that one of your friends was suffering?  Someone you went to school with.  Someone you worked with.  Someone you went to church with.  Someone you did life with at some point in your journey.

You don’t always see it on the outside.  The pictures don’t show it.  They just look like they have maintained their thin composure all these years since the high school days.  They look perfect on the outside.  You think their lives are perfect.  Their posts seem to show a normal life.  Except for just those few posts that occasionally ask for prayer or help for something that you have never heard of so you just keep scrolling by, not understanding what is wrong with this friend and how it affects their life.

Here is the reality for this friend.  Constant nausea.  Unable to eat.  Sick when they try.  In constant pain.  Malnourished.  Emotionally drained.  Imagine feeling like you had morning sickness or a stomach flu that never goes away and lasts all day, every day.  Imagine being in a place where everyone around you can eat “normally” and the thought of food just makes you think about the punishment your body will give you later for eating or drinking it.

It is called Gastroparesis.  A condition that causes your stomach muscles to literally become paralyzed.  There is no cure and very little treatment options that are effective.  Symptoms can be managed (often not eliminated) though diet changes.  Many still experience extreme symptoms even with these changes.  Many patients that suffer from this end up being tube fed or dying.  Starving for a cure.

I have a friend that is very near and dear to my heart.  She suffers from this illness.  While she has been on my heart for a long time, I recently got the opportunity to spend the day with her.  It became very real to me.  How absorbed we get with our own lives that we miss those that are suffering around us.  Miss those opportunities to show them that you care and that they mean something to you.  Miss those opportunities to be intentional in your friendship.  So I decided that I wanted to do something about it.  Her name is Darci Orth.  Please take a minute to watch this video I prepared for her and then see what you can do below.

What can you do?

First, pray.  Pray for complete healing for Darci.  Not only does she suffer from Gastroparesis, she also has Rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s.  I believe in miracles.  I have recently seen complete healing in a friend that would not have been possible without a miracle from God.  So that is my prayer for Darci and I am asking you to join in that prayer with me.  For complete healing.

Second, take the Gastroparesis Pie Face Challenge.  Click here to watch a short video by the person that started this challenge.  It is simple.

1. Record yourself smashing a whipped cream pie in your face.
2. Challenge others.
3. Make a donation to G-Pact, a non profit for GP.  https://www.g-pact.org
4. Share your video using #GPPieFaceChallenge. (For this one lets also use #GPPieFaceChallengeforDarci ~ so she can see all of the videos made for her in one place)

Lastly, lets love on Darci ~ Send her a message that you are praying for her.  Tag her on Facebook with the video of the challenge that you do and lets show her some love!!!

Thank you in advance for your help with this.  May God Bless each person that chooses to bless her with this in any way!