The transition from the Philippines to China was very difficult for me personally. I left the Philippines with a bite of some sort on my lower leg that spread down over my left ankle, was red, hot, inflamed, hard to the touch and painful! I had a fever, felt completely weak, and the bite got to the point that it hurt to walk. I was worried to say the least. It was progressively getting worse but it was our travel day so I really had no option but to keep going…normally in this situation, my team would have stopped to pray for me, but we did not have the freedom to do that as a group while in the airports and train stations of China. It was striking to me how much I missed that freedom to pray aloud with my team when I really needed it. My teammates carried my packs for me and I sat down whenever I had the opportunity. I was preparing myself for heading to a hospital when we arrived in the first city, but praise the Lord, he healed the bite and my body over the course of the 30 hour train ride to our arrival city. I am SO grateful.
Also during that time of transition between countries the rheumatoid arthritis was flared up, partly because I did more physical work in the Philippines, partly because of the strenuousness of the travel days, and partly because of the bite. It was so difficult. I was in tears a few times asking God why he gave me the faith to come “here” and do this if he wasn’t going to protect and heal my body from arthritis. Why would He let me come this far, only to have to go back home so soon? I was really afraid that those days were the beginning of a decline in my health and that I was going to have to go home. But, thankfully, as of now the arthritis is under control in most of my body. My hands are taking the brunt it with some redness, swelling and nodules (bumps that appear on the joints). I wake up with some morning stiffness, but it is nothing I can’t handle and I’m taking one month at a time, waiting on the Lord and trusting His purposes and timing. I do really appreciate your continued prayers for healing.
The amazing thing is that even with rheumatoid arthritis, I can still climb mountains! Literally! I went on an AMAZING hike with my team and literally scaled the face of a mountain…bear crawl up the face!…what arthritis?! Ha! The Lord gave me hind’s feet to go up to the heights!
So…the question…where in your life are you seeing God provide…maybe not by taking something difficult away, but by giving you feet like a deer to be able to scale the mountain?
