Many of you have heard that I’ve been pretty sick over the last
month. I had fallen sick with Malaria twice as well as contracting
typhoid and pneumonia. In total, I was unable to leave the house for
about three weeks. I am much better now, though I still can’t walk long
distances or carry anything even a little heavy for more than a few
steps without needing to stop for a rest or use an inhaler that the
doctors gave me. I can honestly say that when you’re sick there is no
place like home. This past month was difficult for both David and I as
we longed for the comforts of home in the midst of our circumstances,
and yet with all the bad news and challenges we both fell in love with
Kenya and its people.
When it was
time for us to leave our contacts in Busia and head back to Nairobi we
were heartbroken that we were only able to work with them for about half
the time we had planned. At that point we knew I had gotten Malaria
twice and I was still regaining my strength. We left Busia a little
discouraged but knew that God was still in control and had a plan. By
the time we arrived in Nairobi I really wasn’t doing well but we thought
it was due to the long journey we had just taken and that I had not
fully regained my strength from the malaria. On the last day we were
scheduled to be in Nairobi we knew the sickness wasn’t going away and I
needed to get checked out so we went up the street to the Nairobi
Hospital (which we were told is the best in all of east Africa). By the
end of the day I was nearly admitted into the hospital but after
assuring the doctor that I would stay in Nairobi for at least a week,
they released me with a diagnosis of typhoid and pneumonia. The few
days leading up to my hospital visit and the next day following, was a
huge low point for me. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sick for this
long and it was really getting me down. At times I fell and bruised
myself because I was too weak to walk on my own, pour my own water out
of a jug or anything. Really all I could do was sit, and sit, and sit.
And sometimes even that tired me out too much. I also was consistently
coughing so bad I would nearly vomit. I was weak and tired and found
myself asking God why he had allowed me to get to this point. He was the
one who sent me here, he put the world race in our path and placed it
in our hearts, and he was the one who made it all happen. Why allow all
this craziness to happen now while many of our other teammates had
fallen sick and I couldn’t help them one single bit? Oh, I was pissed.
“Heal Thyself” Thankfully God loves us enough to not leave us like we
are and in this case when my “good attitude” had failed he didn’t mind
taking up the slack and stepping in. God is always so gentle with us and
sometimes I can’t explain how his conviction can hit me so hard but
still be received so gently. Anyway, this time His conviction came in
the form of a blog written by my spiritual dad, Mike Paschall, titled
“Heal Yourself”. I’ll let you give it a read and then I’ll continue my
story.
“Heal Thyself”
you). So, you don’t like your circumstance? You’re are not seeing
what you want? You have cried out, but there are delays and you think
that maybe you are invisible to God or He is deaf? The reports are bad
and you have to fight to keep a nostril above the water in order to
breath? What are your choices? You could come into agreement with you
plight and just voice out-loud your personal rejection. Bad ideal.
You could speak more death on yourself, your dreams, your hopes. Or,
maybe you could try harder. Yeah, that will fix it. Try harder.
*sigh* Maybe rebellion? Oh, wait…rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft. Good little Christian kids don’t do witchcraft. Scratch
that one. Self-pity? That one gets us in really big trouble with the
Lord, so…no. How about a temper tantrum? Like a 3 year old whose
momma won’t buy the bubbles at the grocery store? Uhh, that one makes
it too obvious, probably not. Well crap! What the buzzard fudge are
we supposed to do? OR…or…you could heal yourself. Yeah! You could
PROPHECY what is true about you. David said, “I WILL bless the
LORD!” Doubt he always felt like it. I suspect that there were
times that circumstance did not equate to a cheerful “thanks Lord!”
But, David is prophesying to his own spirit that he doesn’t govern his
life by his eyes, surroundings or soggy emotions! Come on man of God!
Come on daughter of Zion! Scream in tongues, prophecy with fire, tell
the truth! Change it in the spirit and then you’ll not be so wound up
in the struggle of our natural surroundings! God gets timing. God
knows timing. It’s all about timing! You asked to live by faith.
So…have faith! Heal thyself! Speak life! Speak life! SPEAK LIFE!
www.everytribeinternational.org they’re real good!)
God works in these hard times and though we may not see it, big fruit
will come if we are willing to trust and bless the Lord through our
trials. Well I did the only thing I could do
(besides coughing and complaining) I started to bless the Lord. I would
lay on my bed and listen to the Psalms on audio (oh yeah, I couldn’t
read either) or I would just lay there and thank him for the good things
he had done for me and my family, my friends. Well just when you think
it should star
t to get better, it didn’t, it got worse. Later that week,I had another hospital visit, where they told me that I was having
asthmatic tendencies and not really recovering at the rate that they
would like me to. The next day we found out that one of our teammates
(which on the world race is more like family than a team) had to go home
to the states to recover her health and another of our teammates (who
was already in Tanzania) had fallen sick as well. I started to bless
the Lord and all hell broke loose. Seriously. But something inside of me
was different. I wasn’t crying anymore or depressed. The Lord had given
me a new perspective and all this petty sickness attacking our team
wasn’t going to stop us from bringing the Kingdom. The enemy was mad
that we were doing God’s work and he was throwing all he could at us. I
know that right now some of you reading this are facing way more than a
month long sickness, and some are facing way less. I know that you
might be facing insurmountable odds in the physical realm but I know
that with my God I can scale a wall, and you can too (Psalm 18). My
friends, whatever you are facing right now – Bless the Lord. BLESS THE
LORD!
- David & I with close friend Calvin – We
randomly met in Nairobi at a coffee house!
behalf, David and I as well as the rest of our team are still pushing
through some stuff but we know that we will overcome and when we do we
will be stronger than before. Thank you dear friends for interceding on
our behalf!
