CURED OF CHRONIC FATIGUE
A RESTORED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
A NEW JOB

Philippe and Ingrid always have been hard workers. From 1994 till 2001 Philippe was an independent subcontractor for the installation of playground equipment. He worked for seven consecutive years without taking a holiday.

From 7.30 in the morning he was already on his way on the A2 highway in order to be ahead of the busy traffic, he came home in the evening, ate around 8 till 9 o'clock pm and then he still worked rebuilding their own house till 1 or 2 in the night... to start again the next morning. The last two of these years he was working abroad during the week and at the end of each week he still drove home during 5 hours after a day of 10 hours working... Despite all this hard work things did not go very well financially. In February 1996 Ingrid gave her life to Jesus. In that same year Philippe was involved in a major accident and in November 1996 he gave his life to Jesus too.
One night in the beginning of the year 2001 Philippe had a very severe hyperventilation attack. He was convinced that he was going to die and he was in a terrible panic. The stress had become too heavy, but he did not see it yet at that moment... Since that night he became afraid to go to sleep and the complaints began to pile up. Officially he still worked during the entire year 2001, but in reality he often could not manage things. In 2002 he stopped as an independent worker. Ingrid took two jobs in order to make both ends meet. For two years, the children hardly saw her, but they did everything to support their parents as well as they could. Philippe woke up in the morning to get the children ready for school; when they were gone he crawled back into bed till they returned home.

For him 2002 is stored in his memory as a "year of sleeping". Philippe was very worried that he was seriously ill. He was not able any more to handle things at all and he had to visit the doctor continuously. He was referred to the GHB hospital by his general practitioner. After a year of examination, CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) was diagnosed. He was referred to the Pellenberg clinic in order to revalidate and he thought that soon surely everything would come right. At this revalidation ward however he met quite some people going on for years with this disease, without seeing much of an improvement. Concerned about this he talked about it with his general practitioner. This man told him that he could expect about 15 % improvement of the therapy... and Philippe knew that at that moment he was only at about 20% of his "former capacity"... you might become hopeless from less. At that time Philippe was also treated with antidepressants, but those did not help at all. He also was given three different medicines for his high blood pressure... and it remained high! To lift a cup of coffee was too hard for him and he continuously had severe muscle cramps.

After two years of very hard work, doing a double job, also Ingrid collapsed. In 2005 she had a vehement hyperventilation attack too. Also she could not go on any more at the pace she had been living up to! On Harry and Suzanne's advice, Ingrid had come once to our church. At that time she thought that she could live well without a church. She only returned when her mother became seriously ill and she was looking for her to be healed. At that time she faithfully came to the services each Tuesday until early 2007. The 1st of February, 2007, her mother went to the Father... a crushing blow to Ingrid!
Philippe never had been a "talker", but he was a "doer". So his identity was completely in what he could do and did. This was also the way he got the respect from people, including his family and his family-in-law. His illness was not accepted by them at all. Ingrid was the only child at home, her parents were divorced but they completely chose her side... So Philippe also lost their respect and he found this extremely frustrating. The pressure that was put upon him, was extremely high. After the decease of Ingrid's mother, the Internet came in their home. Admonished by his brother, Philippe started playing games on the Internet. Karpax, which was Philippe's name on the Internet, was capable of everything. He was the best marksman... here he received the appreciation of his fellow players and he regained respect. After a while he played Karpax day and night; Philippe did not exist any more and Karpax could go on for hours without sleeping... Ingrid had a good job and she sought her refuge there.

This period lasted for a year and a half. It demolished everything, also their relationship and their family... until God Himself interfered and Philippe stopped the playing. In the Summer of 2008 Philippe and Ingrid started to come to the church together. They both were very moved by the word Hugo brought at that moment.
Several times he preached about the lukewarmness of the Christians of Laodicea and how God summoned them to buy gold, white clothes and salve to put on their eyes (Editorial note: this preaching we still have on cd in Dutch). Philippe and Ingrid both were literally seized by this message, and they also started to work with it. There came a total reversal in their relationship with God and with each other. Every preaching seemed to be meant just for them... they took long deep draughts of it and spiritually they were walking on clouds. In order to invest again in their relationship and to spend more time with one another, Ingrid resigned from her job in December 2008.

Early 2008 Philippe still always struggled with towering blood pressure values, despite all medication. Philippe and Ingrid came to the healing school and they started to involve God more and more in their health. In April 2008 Philippe had to be checked by the RIZIV (NIHDI). For the doctor he looked too well ( "too young, too supple, and he radiated too much energy!" ) to receive an allowance any further, and within 6 days he was ejected from the health insurance fund! Financially Philippe and Ingrid were faced with even more severe problems, but in the meantime they knew a Father who loved them and who could not fail them... even though in the beginning this new turn brought a tremendous fear... 

On December 13, 2008 Philippe and Ingrid were baptised in our church. In 2009 Ingrid started to follow an orientation course of the VDAB. She got a training to become an employee in bookkeeping, she went to do an intern ship and immediately after this she was allowed to start for three months at her trainee post. In July 2010 she concluded there a fixed contract and she got a rise in her wage! In the last months of 2009 Philippe started to cooperate with the technicians in the church. Progressively his forces increased. On the 1st January of 2010 he started as an independent handyman. He could start immediately at an attic of his relatives. Last Summer, looking for more certainty, he often accompanied someone doing gardening. This was very hard physical labour, often in hot conditions. He daily drank 4 litres of water, and every working day was a new victory. Through this job he also was offered other jobs again in a miraculous way. So now he regularly works for the spouse of a notary, who nevertheless has still a handyman in his service himself. His boss in the gardening had said that he would never get in there...
God also brought a whole new regularity into their lives. Formerly Philippe and Ingrid used to live the way it suited them. Now Philippe is in bed at evening between 10 and 11 pm, and he wakes up every morning without using an alarm clock. This new regularity also brought deliverance from another year-long problem: constipation! Philippe currently takes only half a dose of his blood pressure medication for with the full dose his blood pressure sometimes was too low. Philippe also has now clearly taken his place as the father in the family and he takes care of all the bills and the finances. God teaches him to draw lines and to live in relationship... He does new miracles in their lives every day and He continues to restore things!