Ok, so I wasn’t in an actual hospital, but I did spend the night in an impromptu infirmary as I was self-quarantined into the corner of the room. Don’t get me wrong, I was living in the utmost comfort I could personally reach. As you can see from the picture, I had all the luxuries an ill person would need: a bed, computer with all of the Harry Potter films, and, most importantly, close proximity to the bathroom.
It started with a menacing headache. I opted out of a lunch excursion to a nearby café to rest before that afternoon’s tutoring session at Trinity College and Seminary, TCS. After resting for an hour the ache seemed to fade so I went down for tutoring, but my headache came back with a vengeance. I returned to my room and bundled up in my sleeping bag because I grew insufferably cold despite it being over 80°F outside. My teammates prayed over me and let me rest for a while until dinner time. I mustered the strength to walk up to the bangla, but immediately upon arriving I realized how truly sick I was. Two of my lovely teammates, Andrea and Paige, walked me back down to TCS with a bowl of rice and two boxes of apple juice so I could get back to bed and rest. By this time I was not cold in the 50°F evening air but was actually quite flushed. As I heaved myself onto my bed I turned to the most comforting think I could think of- The Sound of Music.
Being intensely dizzy and nauseas, I couldn’t actually watch the movie, but I closed my eyes and listened. While the hills were coming alive with the sound of music, my body began aching as if I had tumbled all the way down one of those musical hills. When my teammate Katie returned from dinner she offered to take my temperature. Every five minutes we watched my temperature creep up and settle on 100.1°F, which is quite high as my normal body temperature is 97.1°F. My teammates surrounded me with prayer and sweet gestures. Morgan sat beside me and gently sang me my favorite song as I pushed a smile through my trembling aches. I made up my mind to create my infirmary on the floor beneath the window and close to the bathroom so that I could make a quick run to the bathroom without having to worry about climbing over Morgan in the middle of the night. Also, being beneath a window with the freezing night air sounded divine since I had begun sweating through my clothes from my fever. We concluded that I was dehydrated and I ended up gulping down 3 liters of water within two hours.
I grew more miserable by the minute but as I lay in my sweaty sick bed I marveled how I had woken up with my full health that morning and within twelve hours my body was depleted of energy and suffering from numerous symptoms. I had failed to spend quiet time with just God for two days now and I believe that God was showing me how I can go from being in close, healthy communion with him on Monday but by Wednesday I can be astray. I was reminded that I need the living water not just on the day I was saved, but every single day. As I recuperated on Thursday I spent time feasting on the Word and drinking buckets of water.
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 7:37-38
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
Psalm 42:1
