So, I’ve been sick about 3 times these past 2 months. This sickness, we are supposed to sweat out our virus. So my teammate Alec http://alecdubree.theworldrace.org/ and I who are both sick laid out in the sun with about 3 or 4 layers of clothing and a sleeping bag. We laid out in the sun for about an hour. For lunch, we had hot soup with hot tea which helped us sweat even more. After that, we laid back in the sun letting our food settle. Then, we ran some running drills and drank a lot of water. Our host mom made us some amazing tea with ginger, honey, mint, lemon, and a hint of sweetness from our host who was so generous and caring.
Sometimes being sick is a nice thing because you get to take a break and let others serve you and love you when you can’t be doing anything. When I woke up this morning, my teammate Emma http://emmacolon.theworldrace.org/ wrote me a sweet get well letter and it made me feel so cared for. Sometimes just being is enough and letting others serve and care for you feels nice. You don’t have to be doing anything for people to love you, they love you for who you are. That is something I’ve been learning, that God wants to love us for who we are and not by what we do. But what we do flows from Gods love and grace for us. So when we know whose we are, we live out of the overflow. God is always loving us in doing, not doing, in our brokenness, in our joy, sickness, health, and through it all.
There was also a story that our squadmate Chessie http://chessiejackson.theworldrace.org/ told us about in 1 Kings 19 and how Elijah is tired of being in this world and has no care if he were to die. He sits under the broom tree and sleeps. The angel of the Lord comes to him and feeds him, serving him when he feels like giving up. We are so tired of trying to be good and trying to look put together and we fall asleep and Jesus makes us breakfast. Just giving us what we need when we want to give up. He wants to give us strength and love. We are enough and he accepts us as human beings who mess up. But he wants us to go to him about everything. As she spoke about this Bible story in a new perspective, I was in awe of how amazing our creator is. That even when I’m sick, he puts people in my life who can serve me and care for me as a reflection of him. So sweating out viruses actually help me learn about Gods love.
