First things first- I want to give a shoutout to my old friend Katelin Kimmel, congratulations on the new job and this next chapter of your life in Dallas! My prayers and thoughts are with you.
The subject of this blog will be of a more serious nature- my physical health since starting the race. But from the beginning . . .
At training camp, during a deep conversation with our squad coach Jay Heesch, I collapsed as a result of some intense stomach pain. Four people in the vicinity were nurses, and fearing appendicitis, insisted I go to a hospital. Fortunately it was simple gastroenteritis and a lack of calcium. I recovered after a few hours.
At launch I got strep throat. Despite several prescription medications, my cough was so severe I simply could not sleep. But after a week I was feeling better.
In Chile I had a minor eye infection, (message me if you would like to see a picture). It passed.
In Bolivia I got the worst headache of my life as a result of the altitude. I could breathe fine, but I wasn’t even able to walk straight. After four or five hours in a birthing center hooked up to oxygen, I was much improved.
In Cambodia I had a fever for about two days. I actually slept for about 18 straight hours during these two days. When I woke up, I found myself suffering from a bacterial infection, that would plague my system with dehydration and diarrhea for the rest of the month. I lost quite a bit of weight, but eventually I recovered.
In Thailand, I was finally able to gauge how much weight I had lost as a result of the infection. It was about 11 pounds. So I endeavored to put the weight back on, and get in shape. I was succeeding until one morning when I awoke at about 4:30 AM with some severe stabbing chest pains. Having already been to the doctor several times on the Race, I tried to suck it up. But it literally felt as if my ribs were broken. Unable to stand, I managed to throw a pillow at my team leader, wake her up, and get to the hospital. I’m still not sure what caused this, but the X-rays showed that the muscles in my rib cage were extremely tight, making breathing very difficult. After a couple of days though I got over it.
And that brings me to the present. About two and a half weeks ago, I woke up with some knee pain. I had done nothing to cause my knee pain; no tweaks, twerks, jams or hyperextensions. But nonetheless, it hurt. I stretched it, and kept trying to walk it off, thinking it was just a result of sleeping on a couch a few inches too small. But when I finally did have it looked at by a professional, it was worse than I thought. I had some issues with my lower back, my knee cap, and all the muscles in-between. What started off as a mild discomfort became at some moments a debilitating pain. And to make things worse, the stretches I was doing to alleviate the tension turned out to make things worse, as did my choice to “walk it off.”
So now I sit in Bulgaria, slowly recovering and trying to stay off the leg. Earlier today I opened my bible, and the first verse I saw was Jeremiah 17:14.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
Save me and I shall be saved,
For you are my praise.
I once wrote that His Word is my promise, and knowing He is faithful always has come to bring me great peace.
Now I’m sure some of these health issues have been avoidable on my part. Some of them I might attribute as just dumb luck. Perhaps the devil uses this venue as a way to dishearten my resolve for the Lord. Perhaps this is one of those chapters in life where God wills we suffer for His glory. In any case, I know the Lord is good, and He has a plan for my troubles. When I am weak in body, I have the opportunity to be strong in Spirit. And come what may, I know I will recover. My joy in Him is not determined by my circumstances.
For now, the leg still hurts, and today especially. Right now I’m not able to do much with my team, because there’s just too much walking involved. So please keep me in your prayers, that my leg would heal, and that I would continue to be an effective tool in advancing the Kingdom here in Eastern Europe.
And lastly, I want to give a shoutout to Dr. Jay Miller who helped alleviate some of the pressure on my leg this past week during the Parent Vision Trip, as well as Dr. Landsman, who spoke healing over me during our ministry days.
-Matt
