It started last Friday - just a little soreness near the back of my throat and a headache. It was nothing a little over-the-counter drug couldn’t cure. I slept through the weekend and thought I was feeling better by Sunday. Sunday night, that little soreness turned into a big soreness and I resolved to sleep it off. Hitting the pillow early, I prayed for health with the sunrise. Sunrise came and much to my disappointment, the twinge wasn’t letting go. I dragged myself to the sink for more pain killers and bumbled off to school.
The kids could tell there was something wrong. My voice was hoarse. I was weak. I taught most of the day sitting down. By noon, I could tell I had a fever and at the day’s end, I went wild to clean-up, pack-up, and head out the door before my body said, “Throw-up!”
Home at last, barely able to swallow, I downed some tea and more ibuprophen, called the doctor and took a nap. My nap lasted four days. This morning, after negative results with both a strep and mono test, two antibiotic shots to the rear, a prescription of antibiotics and orders to rest, drink fluids, and take Tylenol as needed, I’m on my way back to a healthy me!
This morning, on my last day of recovery, I opened my devotional book which had gone by the wayside in my sickened stupor and read the designated text for March 2. I was surprised to find a very fitting passage: It’s important for believers to be tested by trials. Without these tests, our faith would grow cold and weak. It could eventually disappear completely. But if we are tested with hardships, we will discover what faith is and will be strengthened in our knowledge of Christ. We will become so strong that even when we have troubles and anxieties, we can be just as happy as we are in good times. We can look at each hardship as if it were a cloud or a fog that will soon vanish. -Martin Luther
This, Void, is not what we call coincidence. This is what we call God’s will. It was his will that I get amazingly down-and-out sick for four days. It could have been his will I begin to feel better on the day I read this wonderfully comforting passage. God works in all kinds of hardships. For me, being “out of commission” for four days, was very hard to accept.
But it was nothing compared to what you may go through every day of your life. Perhaps you are hurting deeply inside with emotional pain. Perhaps you endure sickness that is ongoing and has no cure. Perhaps you have lost a dearly loved one in a sudden accident. Perhaps you are far away from those you love the most. Perhaps you are victim of someone else’s crime. Perhaps you face danger day in and day out with no hope of change.
No matter your struggle, it’s only there to make you stronger. Again, But if we are tested with hardships, we will discover what faith is and will be strengthened in our knowledge of Christ. How can I not look to the cross in the face of difficulty and say, “Thank-you, Jesus.”? Perhaps it took a week of sickness for me to learn that simple truth, in times of hardship and adversity, when the rest of the world seems so foreign, my Lord is there, hugging me closer to him.
What a great God he is!
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