So for about 3-4 days I was sick, nothing serious just a fever and a cough and I am doing just fine now. Its amazing how laying in a strange bed -the top bunk of a bunk bed at that – in a different country with no one real close to you anywhere nearby, and no easy access to clean water, juice or to known medications can make being sick 10 times worse.

  It would have been so easy to be really grumpy about being sick because I couldn’t help my squad with the tasks at hand. I had to stay away from the kids home, and I couldn’t participate in certain ministries. Then to top it all I had so much time to think and I couldn’t help but become homesick for the comfort of my family and friends. But I kept remembering the scripture in Nehemiah 8:10 that says”…for the joy of the Lord is your strength” and really taking comfort in that and really just taking advantage of the times when I was feeling deciant to pray and read my bible and being joyful for the blessings I have. To just spend time with God and interceed for my squad, because even though I could not be out physically helping them I could spriritually help them.

  It was really quite amazing to see what God taught me in this time of being sick when I embraced the verse “the joy of the Lord is your strength”. He showed me how important it was to really spend time with him, even if all I could do was lay there and listen to his voice. He gave me a new understanding and appreciation for the dynamics of relationships with family and friends and what it really takes to be a friend and what it is going to take for me to be that friend to my team mates. I also gained a new appreciation for the energy and strength it takes to do physical tasks like plant grass, shovel rocks or play with kids and that I shouldn’t take my health for granted. But most importantly I learned to rejoyce in my suffering.