This past month has been a real roller coaster for my stomach and me; but I have also learned more dependence on Christ than I could have ever imagined.
The week after our month 1 debrief, my stomach started feeling pretty wonky all the time, but especially after I ate. I began to get very nauseous and tired all the time. I just figured it was my body adjusting back to full time ministry, but no matter how many naps or tums I took, I couldn’t shake it. Accompanied by the most fluent Spanish speaker on our team (thanks Hannah) I went to the doctor, really not knowing what to expect. After a lot of miming, rough translations, and pooping in a cup (the worst part of this whole story), the doctor told me that I had a parasite and a stomach infection.
After telling my parents, buying all the meds I needed, and of course naming my parasite, my life at ministry pretty much went back to normal. There were days in the 2 weeks it took to kill the parasite that I had some stomach pain and nausea, but it was never unbearable.
The day after I finished taking all my meds, my stomach pain came back to a level I had never felt before. Every time I ate, the pain was all I could think about for the rest of the day.
That night, one of the staff at the base spoke to us about finding rest in the Lord. At first I wasn’t sure how it would apply to me, especially because I had been taking my Sabbaths off and making sure I did get my rest. But she wasn’t just talking about sleep or quiet time. She spoke into the fact that because God ordained this season in our lives, He will sustain it. My cup will never be empty, and there is nothing more that I need.
After hearing this, I began to lean into complete dependence on the Lord. The pain in my stomach was never consistent that week, only maybe for a couple hours a day, but every time I began to feel it, I was able to trust that the Lord would give me the strength to not just get through, but give everything I had and still enjoy ministry that day. And He never let me down, He completely sustained me.
Much to my dismay, that Friday all my symptoms of nausea and extreme pain every time I ate came back in full force, and didn’t go away. So after about 48 hours I took my amazing teammate (thanks again Hannah) back to the doctor with me and the whole process began again.
Thank the Lord that this time I had a doctor that spoke a little English, because it wasn’t as simple as last time. I first found out that I had a bacterial infection in my bladder, but that still didn’t explain my stomach pain. So after a couple more tests we found out that the mixture of my parasite, infection, and all the meds severely weakened my stomach lining and my digestive enzymes were no longer doing their job.
When I was preparing for the Race, I vividly remember always answering the question “What are you most nervous for” simply with “getting sick”. While I am by no means excited to get sick, the Lord completely showed me that He is bigger than any fear. I don’t need to have any fears, because He has won every battle for me.
In all complete honesty, last week was very hard. I began taking pills with digestive enzymes before every meal and it took a couple days before I could eat without experiencing any pain. But I found so much peace in knowing that the Lord will always sustain me, because He has ordained this beautiful season of my life.
