So why do it anyway? What could possibly be the point of making your own medicine? The bottom line answer is simply that the ‘run-yourself-ragged, get sick, pump in antibiotics, feel a little better, then repeat’ method does not work. It is a failing system. You know what I mean, too. How many families do you know (or even your own?) that seem to just get over an illness when they start battling another? It is a cycle that repeats all winter long for far too many families.

As I have been studying over the last few years about the overuse of antibiotics, and the poor state of folks’ natural immunity these days, I have become determined to find a better way. Before antibiotics, people did not die from every minor cold. Our current desperate reliance on antibiotics forgets that God did not leave us defenseless. We do have immune systems that, when properly cared for, can fight off illness. This plan makes us stronger in the process instead of weaker, like the antibiotic model.

From my studies, I have developed a two-fold plan of attack for dealing with illness in our family. The first is building (sometimes from the ground up, starting from scratch) our immune systems. I have learned that the immune system is more directly affected by what is happening in the digestive system than by any other factor. Weird but true. The second part of the plan is treating an illness once exposure has occurred naturally with homemade herbal medicine.

Our fledgling attempts last year to boost immunity and naturally treat illness were very successful. Starting earlier, and armed with an extra years’ worth of studies, I hope to raise the bar this time. Not only are my hopes that we will “not get sick”, but also, that we will continue to strengthen our immune systems enough to be able to serve sick people (i.e. not leaving Grandma and Grandaddy to fend for themselves when sick).

I will be posting Parts Two and Three about building immunity and treating illness, and a special episode about how to make herbal tinctures and syrups at home. Stay Tuned!

P.S. All our efforts to prevent illness do not detract from our understanding of God’s sovereignty. He is sovereign-no question. Sin has caused sickness and death to enter the world-it is a fact. There are times when illnesses are our own fault for not being good stewards of our health (i.e. living on Dr. Pepper and M&M’s), and other times when God allows them for our good and His glory. My goals: (1) simply to be obedient to the amount of knowledge He has allowed me to have and (2) to not be laid up with illness knowing all the while that I brought it on myself by slothfulness or foolishness.