“You’ll have to come back tomorrow,” he said, “the doctor who tests for malaria is not in today.”
It all started during an afternoon of cutting vegetables with a sweet Indian woman who the locals call “Grandma” and one of my friends, Victoria. My head began to feel foggy and a fever came over me suddenly. I tried to brush it aside as just not getting enough sleep, or enough caffeine, or just the humidity of India. That evening, lying in bed, my head was on fire while my body was covered in goosebumps. Freaking myself out I said aloud, “maybe I have malaria.” But, my gracious teammates put up with my ridiculousness and assured me that I would be fine. “It’s just a fever” they said.
The next morning I woke up with similar symptoms, but I felt a whole lot better. So, I ventured out to the market with my teammates where we got Henna, fell in love with elephant pants and bangles, and tapestries made from the most colorful of fabrics. I was doing fine, but that evening was a rough one. I crashed in bed with an even higher fever, even more goosebumps, and and awoke with one of the worst headaches of my life. Plus diarrhea. That’s when I knew that I needed to go to the hospital.
The auto (tuk tuk, rickshaw, whatever you want to call it) ride there was long. To me, it felt like I slowly stumbled to the front desk and declared, “I think I need to be tested for malaria.” I can’t remember how it all happened. I just remember the clerk saying something about coming back the following day. I felt like I was going to fall over, so I went to sit down. My teammates, Brooke and Ryan, had come with me- and they somehow talked him into at least getting me looked at, because clearly, I was a hot mess.
Blood was drawn, and two hours later the test was processed… MALARIA FREE. But not fever free, not migraine free, and not diarrhea free. They checked my vitals and discovered that I was running a 99.5 fever and had very low blood pressure. Ushered to the emergency room I received 3 bags of fluids over the course of 6 hours, and a whole lot of pills that I’m still not quite sure were for, while my teammates sat so graciously at my side, telling me jokes, making sure all of the air bubbles were out of my IV, and paying my bills. It was in that hospital bed that the Lord revealed something to me… this parasite in me was just a physical manifestation of the devil trying to bring me down.
He’s been trying to bring our whole team down this whole month. Our experience in India is not what any of us were expecting or hoping for… and to be honest, our attitude has kind of not been the best. But unlike the doctor, the Lord never says, “you’ll have to come back and talk to me tomorrow.” No. He continually meets us where we are at, with grace and so much love, complaining attitudes and all. As I lay on my sleeping pad, covered in goosebumps and sweat all at the same time, with yet another migraine, I prayed that the Lord would give me a second chance to fall in LOVE with India. Not the India that I was expecting, but the India that I was gifted to care for and love. He kept me in bed for a few more days, well, let’s be honest, I’m still in bed, BUT – I have a new heart for India and for the brothers that we’ve been placed here in Hyderabad to care for, and I CAN’T WAIT to get over this parasite and out of my bed to continue doing what the Lord sent me to the nations to do – show them Him.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
1 Peter 5:10
Thank you so much for your prayers and support my dear friends. I love you and I miss you and I pray that you are well!
