I met a woman at church recently whom I’d not spoken to before, and she asked me a question similar to ‘What’s my ministry,’ or ‘How do I serve?’ I told her my heart was for missionaries and that I started a prayer group at my previous church. Her response was, “Oh, well, you can pray anywhere,” as in I didn’t need to have a group in order to pray. The prayer group was always rather small, except when we had missionaries come to visit, and now I think I understand why.
It brought to mind something that I learned at Missions College but didn’t want to believe…you can get a hundred parishioners to show up for a works project, but if you call it a prayer meeting, very few will come out.
Yesterday, my husband and I went to our previous church to hear a missionary friend of ours preach and speak about his time in a Muslim-dominated country. I was moved to tears several times before he even stepped up to the pulpit. A woman gave her powerful, powerful testimony and was baptized. One of the praise and worship songs we sang was the one I was singing when I had my God moment several years ago. Then, there were multiple times during the sermon and presentation.
I wrote down all of the things that could be topics for this week, just like I do every week, but I feel as if I should write about all of them instead of choosing just one. They all had a special meaning to me, and I feel like God wants me to share each message.
Work hard and rest when you need to.
Before Covid, this would have been a foreign idea to me. As you know, I’ve been dealing with a mystery illness that began in February 2021, right after Missions College (attended by people all over the world). I missed several weeks of work and felt so guilty about it that I tried to work from home. On days when I wasn’t dizzy, I managed to drive myself to work. Any spare energy that I had was spent researching this disease.
Finally, I read an article about Long Covid and how it can even affect people who tested negative. My symptoms were constantly changing and didn’t make any sense to me or my doctor. Over the next couple of years, I was given the diagnosis and cures for several different illnesses. I even went to Cleveland Clinic looking for answers. The cures included eating healthy and exercising. I just needed to “push through.” There seems to be this mentality that our illnesses can be controlled by diet and exercise, but that’s just an irresponsible answer.
Last Thursday, I went to see an Internal Medicine doctor. He specialized in headaches. This doctor was totally different than most. For one thing, he spent an hour with me. He glanced at my records for a few minutes, then turned off the computer and asked me to tell him everything that led to me seeing him. He listened!!! He said that I have Long Covid. That I could live on salads and it wouldn’t make a lick of difference to my symptoms. He told me that exercising and pushing through were absolutely the wrong things to do. I needed rest until this flare-up goes away.
Fancy that?! I felt validated, heard, and seen. For the first time in years, I didn’t feel as if my illness was my fault or something I could control. I was given permission to rest and take care of myself. I felt so completely blessed! Only God could have orchestrated the series of events that led me to this doctor.
MESSAGE #1: WE HAVE PERMISSION TO REST
And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
Mark 6:31 NKJV
Father, we praise You. May we put our trust in You alone to see to our needs. May the weary soul who is reading this find peace in having permission to rest. We thank You, dear Father, and it’s in Jesus’ precious name that we pray. Amen.
