Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan for them to…
When we got to Romania 8 days ago, I began to feel a bit sick and couldn’t shake it. I knew I had a cold, bug bites all over my body and a yeast infection. Sorry guys… This post is a little real and raw.
I stuck through it and tried to pray it off, take the medicine I had with me already, drink orange juice and I did just about everything I could think of to help fix my situation. I was sick and I was in a place that all I wanted was to be home with my mom so she could take care of me. I know I’m not the only one who thinks like that. Moms are the BEST!
I finally broke down the other day and told my Team Leader, Hilary, that I couldn’t bare it anymore and I had to go to the doctor. I can’t say that I was really looking forward to it very much since usually when you think the word doctor, you think about how much money you are about to spend for them to help you figure out what’s wrong with you.
As soon as we walked into the emergency room, they started taking my blood pressure (mom you will be happy to know that it’s still as amazing as it’s ever been!), did some blood work, did an EKG and then wanted to send me for a chest X-RAY. I have to be honest… All I was seeing were dollar signs. I told the doctor that I didn’t have a lot of money and I needed it to be as cheap as possible and he just looked at me with this grin on his face. He told me that in Romania they don’t care about your money. They just want to make sure you are better. I said, “well in that case, do whatever you want to with me!” He just chuckled and next thing I knew I was being wheeled to the X-RAY room.
When I was done with my X-RAY they wheeled me into a room where they would be sticking me with an IV. Anyone that knows me, knows that I DO NOT do well when it comes to needles. It’s not my thing and I prefer to stay away from them if I can. During that time the infectious disease doctor came in to tell me that I had a viral cold in my lungs and the bug bites were bad so they would give me meds for it. She also happened to be the lady over the gynecologist section of the hospital. So after my IV I was sent in to have a Pap smear done to see what they would be prescribing me for the yeast infection.
As you can see, things didn’t quite go the way I was planning. I walked out of there with TEN (10) different prescriptions. I have 3 allergy meds, sleep meds to help knock me out at night, lotion for the bites, chest congestion meds, 3 types of yeast meds, vitamin C tablets and some other stuff. They loaded me down. I was thinking that I was about to spend a small fortune and I was really nervous! When we got to the pharmacy they told me that all 10 prescriptions would be a total of 135 Romanian Lei. I walked in there with 140 lei. God is SO good. 135 lei translates into about $33 USD. That’s it! That’s all I paid for the ENTIRE doctors visit and meds.
Don’t get me wrong… That was not the day I had planned for myself and those who had to go with me, but God showed up and showed out. He had me there for a reason and I was thankful for the whole day by the time I got home. My doctor spoke beautiful English that he learned in the UK and he wanted to talk to me as much as he could to keep up some good practice and my nurse took such great care of me and loved me well because I am the same age as and reminder her of her daughter. But the best thing about the whole day was the fact that I had to sit through a 1 1/2 hour IV treatment where I met sweet little 8 year old Haris (roll the ‘R’) and his mom. He told his mom that he wanted to talk to me but he was scared. So I decided to talk to him instead. Throughout our conversation I had the incredible opportunity to tell him and his mom about the love of Christ and what He did for us many years ago. It was honestly one of those highlight/Kodak moments. I mean we were both sitting there with IV’s in and something as special as sharing the gospel to a sweet little 8 year old came out of it. How awesome is our amazing God?!?!
Update on me: I have been on my meds for 2 full days now and I’m feeling a lot better. The doc told me I had to be home and in bed for a few days to let my body rest and so that I don’t get anyone else sick, but even in those moments God has let me be part of our ministry this month by working on a computer from home. The blessings over me and my team and squad are many. There is a lot of oppression where we are in Romania, but I know that God has big ways to use us this month. Please keep us in your prayers.
All my love,
Danielle
