He healed me.

Normally, this blog is where I share teaching and Bible study tools. But today I want to pause and share a personal testimony of what the Lord has done. Two weeks ago, I had major surgery. This week, I got the final pathology results. My nurse said a few times, "I don't think I've ever seen this before." Now that I finally have the full picture of just how sick I truly was—I'm able to see just how faithful God has been to carry me through.

SO, I WAS REALLY SICK.

“The cords of death encompassed me… In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.” (Psalm 18:4, 6)

Today, I got my final pathology report back from my doctor's office. The well-seasoned nurse had to stop and look up terms she had never even seen before. She said, “Kate, you definitely had stage IV endometriosis.” She was blown away by how widespread and severe it was.

She also told me something that really hit me: with adenomyosis (where uterine tissue grows deep into the muscle of the uterus), it’s very rare for the pathologist to officially call it that, even when the surgeon knows it’s there. Usually the sample isn’t significant enough to warrant a formal diagnosis. But mine was listed as “deep adenomyosis.” My doctor said she had never once seen a pathologist document it that way.

Here’s what they found inside of me:

• Both ovaries contained endometriomas (cysts filled with endometriosis tissue and blood). One even had hemosiderin deposits (iron from repeated bleeding).

• Endometriosis was on my pelvic sidewalls, both uterosacral ligaments, uterus, fallopian tube, appendix, sigmoid colon, rectum, and the mesentery (the connective tissue that holds the intestines in place).

• Endometriosis had literally invaded the muscle layers of my intestines and appendix.

• My rectum was fused to my cervix with dense adhesions, requiring bowel resection.

• My uterus had multiple fibroids, deep adenomyosis, and was covered in adhesions with endometriosis.

• One fallopian tube was shortened and diseased with paratubal endometriosis.

• My appendix had endometriosis growing through its muscular wall.

• My rectum and sigmoid colon had endometriosis inside their muscle layers.

• Multiple organs were stuck together by fibrous adhesions.

• And everywhere they looked, endometriosis showed up.

Everywhere—except there was no malignancy. Praise God.

So what was happening inside my body that made me so exhausted, depressed, and clouded in my thinking for years? Let me break it down, because the science is part of the miracle God has worked in me.

1. Chronic Inflammation and My Brain

Endometriosis and adenomyosis meant my body was constantly inflamed. The lesions secreted inflammatory molecules (cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-alpha) that didn’t just stay local—they entered my bloodstream and crossed into my brain. That neuroinflammation scrambled the balance of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The result? Depression, low motivation, fatigue, and a constant heaviness that felt like living in a fog. After surgery, with the endometriosis excised and adenomyosis removed with my uterus, the inflammatory burden dropped. Neuroinflammation began to calm. My neurotransmitters reset. And suddenly, I could feel joy again. It’s like the sickness-induced darkness lifted, and my brain could finally see light.

2. Hormonal Chaos and Stabilization

Endometriosis thrives on estrogen. Month after month, hormonal swings fueled more growth and more inflammation. Those surges also destabilized my brain chemistry, and the chronic stress of it over-activated my HPA axis (my body’s stress-response system). Cortisol flooded my brain and suppressed the very regions that regulate mood and hope. By removing my uterus (and the adenomyosis that lived inside it) and excising the diseased tissue, my hormones found a steadier rhythm. No more destructive monthly cycle. No more unpredictable storms. This steadiness has calmed my stress response, lifted my mood, and brought clarity of thought I hadn’t experienced in years.

3. The Gut-Brain Axis

Endometriosis had infiltrated my rectum, sigmoid colon, and appendix. This wasn’t just painful—it was disruptive to the gut-brain axis. About 90% of the body’s serotonin is made in the gut. My diseased bowels were contributing to dysbiosis (unhealthy gut bacteria) and inflammation, which leaked through to my bloodstream and brain. Post-surgery, with diseased bowel segments removed and my appendix taken out, my gut has been able to start healing. Inflammation is down. My microbiome can rebalance. Serotonin production in my gut is recovering, which means my mood, energy, and clarity are recovering too.

This surgery reset my entire body. And suddenly, I'm feeling joy again. I wake up smiling instead of limping out of bed starting my day in awful pain. I can think clearly again. I'm filled with energy and creativity instead of dread. It feels like God has lifted a blanket of heaviness off my life. Because that's exactly what He did.

I’m realizing now, as I look back over the past decade: there’s no way anything I did or created was in my own strength. My body was being destroyed from the inside out. I had no idea. I just thought feeling how I felt was how I was going to feel for the rest of my life. No doctors had been able to figure out what was wrong. So I just accepted it as my new normal.

The fact that in the middle of all of this, I "birthed" abidible and kept homeschooling, and honestly just doing "life" at all...is not in any way credit to me. I'm a band-quitter, remember? I would not have endured in my own flesh. I know myself well enough to be sure of that. The only explanation is this: the Lord was literally, supernaturally carrying me. Any good that came out of my life in those years was not me, but Christ in me.

Now, He has answered my cry for deliverance—not just spiritually but physically. He used doctors (one of the best in the world, renowned for performing this procedure and only 15 minutes from my front door), medicine, and surgery to heal me. He made a way where there was no way and sprung new streams in the desert.

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18-19)

My God still works miracles. And if He can do it in me, He can do it in you. He is everything you need for whatever you need. I've tried to live without Him so many times. But knowing what I know now (after four years of clinging to Him like my life depended on it because it did), I'll never let go of Him again.

Today, I remember.

I give thanks.

And I testify: The Lord has healed me.