“Oh no, God do I have to go through this again. I really don’t want to. Please take it away. I know I will be fine, I just don’t want to hurt.�
Part of a verse that my team is memorizing came to mind, Colossians 4:5 “make the most of every opportunity.�
As I stared into the toilet bowl for the 5th time my mind was surprisingly able to think straight.
“Okay, maybe if I go to the ER I will be able to share God’s love.�
Am I willing to go to the hospital?
God, can I just run into that person on the street?
Is going to the hospital worth it? Okay God I am willing but you for sure are going to have to help me.�
So I have an issue, when I get sick my stomach can’t stop contracting. The last time I got sick I had 19 sessions of throwing up before I made my way to the hospital. This time I decided to not take it that far.
When you are sick all you want is your mom — well at least that is all I want. But I had the most wonderful teammates. Between my sessions Sarah held my hand and Chelsea rubbed my hair both fervently praying in the middle of the night.
At 6am we made our way to the nearest city about an hour and a half away. Chuck, and his wife, our ministry contact were gracious and took us so that I did not have to take the 3 hour bus ride. We made it to the hospital and things got rolling…just not in the way we wanted.
The last time I just got an IV to rehydrate myself and pain killer since in feels like someone is repeatedly stabbing me with a knife. But for some reason they did not understand this and wanted to do other test.
After getting a urine test and an x-ray, the doc wanted me to have an ultra sound. All I could do was laugh, I was so miserable but there always seem to be comedy in this life we have. No baby just in case you all were wondering, I do have the pictures. Maybe I should hang them on our wallJ. Then the doc wanted a blood test. Things started adding up and I just wanted to raise my hand and say, “Can I have an IV to go please?� (They actually do that here!) But the IV that they wanted to give me was full of a bunch of other things that I did not want in my body. So after 3 hours we left the hospital with no IV.
I was a little disappointed because I brought more death than life to the hospital. I wasn’t doing so hot. Anyways I stayed with another I squad team that was placed in the city.
Oh my goodness, I got to lie on my first real bed in the past 4 months. That in itself was glorious. Ryan and Chelsea took turns by my side praying for me and making me drink this nasty stuff. But I was so incredibly thankful for them both. After sleep, this special drink, and tons of prayer, the excruciating pain subsided and we headed back to our place that night.
The day after I reflected, if everything has a purpose…what was the purpose of that, God? I wasn’t much use to anyone…I wasn’t very coherent actually. I didn’t feel led to go and talk with anyone but I don’t know if I was really listening to God either. I got to witness how incredibly loving and servant hearted my teammates are. I know that we don’t get to know why everything happens. So maybe this is one of those times.
Chelsea said it brought us a lot closer together. I am all for that! Or maybe it is to realize again how incredible our bodies are! I got to see my stomach…that is pretty sweet. The fact that our stomach knows when something is foul in it and knows how to get rid of it just like that — it’s amazing! And that is just the start. Mind blown. Now that China has documents of what my insides looks like maybe God can use it to reveal to them how awesome He is. Not that my insides are any different, I just like to dream big! J Or maybe it is just that we live in a broken world and things like this happen.
But this I do know, “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.� Romans 8:28
I now have my very own hospital card! 🙂
