So, this event happened last month. I wasn’t able to post it due to internet restrictions in a closed-country, but I want you all to hear it. I hope it encourages you in your faith just as it did mine.
-Seth
Tuesday, October 22, 2013, 2:35 PM China-country
God has been so gracious to me. Two nights ago, I ate raw tofu during karaoke and prayed that God would protect my body from it. He did. Yesterday, I didn’t even think I would be able to play Ultimate very well on a hurt ligament. Yet, I had one of my best games ever. Epic catches, epic smack downs, it was God just being very gracious and blessing me with a super good game.
Last night we went out for Korean Barbecue after that sweet game of Ultimate. Everyone was there. I was enjoying it up until the point I started feeling sick to my stomach and freezing cold. I had to put on a coat while everyone else was in a t-shirt because I just couldn’t stop shivering. So, I left the group early and started the seven-block walk back to the apartment. What happened from there, I did not expect.
I had only been walking a couple minutes and my body started to shut down. My jaw started rattling like a machine gun, my body temperature dropped, and I was hyperventilating incessantly, sucking in the night air. My back was aching from my whole body going stiff. It seemed like I was going into hypothermia. It scared me. At first, I thought to run back to the apartment, but a bruised ligament in my hip brought me too much pain to do that.
It was a cold night and I was miserable. Walking back in the dark, shivering like nuts, jaw rattling, breathing like I had just finished a mile race, and limping from a sprain, I was seriously beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to make it. I was thinking, “Just get there, Seth. If you can keep going a few more blocks you’ll be fine.”
People are watching me pass by in this sorry state, probably wondering, “What in the world is the matter with him? It’s only thirty degrees out here.” And yet no one is offering a helping hand. So I just keep walking as best I can, figuring out what I should do if I my body can’t make it.
Then a thought came to me. Acts 16, when Paul and Silas were in prison they were worshiping God. They were beaten and imprisoned for their obedience to His will and they still worshiped Him. The lesson: no matter what circumstances we are in, we should praise God. So I did. I started to thank Him for life, for a great game of Ultimate, for protecting me, and for His faithfulness.
Instantly, I mean the very second, I started to thank Him, I felt my body warm. My jaw stopped chattering. My body stopped shivering. My lungs stopped hyperventilating. My body instantly normalized. I straightened my back walking upright, continued breathing normally, and kept thanking God.
Now I am a skeptical guy. I believe God is capable of anything, but I am very critical as to what is a miracle and what is not. I think people sometimes trick themselves into thinking that a normal occurrence was somehow supernatural. This was not a normal occurrence. Your body doesn’t just naturally and instantaneously heal itself from a critical condition the moment you start thanking God. And crazy enough, I didn’t even ask to be healed. He just did it.
That event moved me spiritually just as much as it changed me physically. I was in a rough patch of life. I was feeling kind of worthless, like this socially inept, slow-witted, and hard-at-hearing person who just didn’t quite fit in.
God healing me was a reminder that He loves me. Even if no one understands me and I end up embarrassing myself, it doesn’t change His affection for me. He doesn’t see me as worthless and bothersome because when I call out to Him, He hears me.
That night changed me.
It was a powerful moment. It reminded me about His reality. There really is a God who loves us and hears us. And my life is all about Him, knowing Him and worshiping Him. So, I am rededicating my life to Christ. I am His disciple and servant. I am going to strive to keep His Word to the best of my ability. I can’t do it on my own strength, but with Him, anything is possible.
God bless you guys.
Your bro,
Seth
