Getting Sick
Last April, I woke up with diarrhea. I became so tired after a whole morning’s bout with diarrhea that I fell asleep just before lunch time. Upon waking up at 3:00 PM, I felt a different kind of pain in my tummy. The pain was so bad, no medicine, no changing of position, nothing can relieve me. My family finally decided to take me to the hospital where we found out that the pain was caused by gall stones that have blocked my bile duct. My doctor recommended that I undergo emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy as soon as possible and I agreed. The surgery was successful but took my surgeon three hours to finish. He said mine was one of the most difficult cases he ever came across. Online casino Ireland. ###
A month later, on a Friday, again I wake up with diarrhea. Thinking that this diarrhea will be resolved by itself over the weekend, I stayed at home, supplemented with lots of fluids, rested and hoped to get better. By Monday, I was weak, had a headache, was very dizzy and couldn’t get up anymore. When I got to the hospital, the immediate recommendation was to confine me for dehydration. As it turns out, I had infectious diarrhea and had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. It was a week-long diarrhea that left me weak and discouraged.
Exactly one week later, I started coughing and had colds. After 3 days of bad coughing, the doctor diagnosed me with pneumonia on top of asthma. I was just about ready to give up! What was happening to me?
Time Off
Naturally, every time I fell ill, I had to take time off from work to rest and recover. But after being diagnosed with pneumonia, I was already very anxious. I didn’t know what has happening to me. I was worried for my health, my family, and my work. In my mind, I was thinking I should really take a good rest. But I wavered because I wasn’t sure anymore how my bosses would take my constant time off from work. Nevertheless, my doctor recommended that I take time to rest and my bosses agreed.
But then, of course, time off work means I don’t get paid. This had taken a toll on our family’s budget, add to that the expenses we incurred because of my illnesses, the hospital confinements, and the medicines we had to buy.
Is this about God ?
All of this happening to us really led me to ask God in prayer, “Why has this been happening, Lord? Is there anything that I need to learn? Why have I been getting sick?” During my morning devotion early last week, I came across this verse,
And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.”
Mark 6:31 NASB
Reading the verse assured me that it is God’s will for me to take a break and rest. I’m sure that it is not God’s will for me to be ill, because that is not God’s way, but He did allow it. I just needed to be quiet and wait for God’s word for me. So rest up is what I did. I let myself enjoy the time with my family, took my meds and vitamins, and took it slow. I also took the time to start our current homeschool year and began teaching my children.
Changing My Life’s Value
In the meanwhile, I was doing everything I can to manage our finances. Here is where I truly understood the Lord’s message for me. When I started working and earning my own money, I was so happy that I could now contribute to our family’s finances. I placed my security in having work and earning money. Truth to tell, placing my security in money has been one of my life’s value. I can’t help it – I grew up with this kind of thinking. I come from a family of business people and it has been drilled into me that a person’s value is closely linked to his income. Sadly, one of our family’s unsaid beliefs is, if a person is not earning or has little income, he is not valuable. Of course, this is absolutely untrue. God’s word says that we are all of value to God. No matter who we are, no matter what we have or don’t have, no matter what we have done, God love’s us. He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NLT
Our Eternal Security
However, even knowing this truth in my life, I still struggle with strong feelings of insecurity whenever we face financial challenges. With this period of rest, I had no choice except to place my faith in the Lord for our finances. Despite our struggles, the Lord pulled through for us in every way. I came to realize this important truth – we can never place our security on anything on this Earth. Our only Security, is in the Lord. He never fails, He never changes, He is our Provider, our Helper in our time of need.
How about you? What do you place your security on? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Michelle Padrelanan
Hello, I'm Michelle and I love to encourage others through my blog. I write about homeschool, books and family life. I enjoy testing out products and giving my honest opinion about it. If I'm not in front of my laptop, I can usually be found watching TV or having my favorite frappuccino at Starbucks with my favorite Mary Higgins Clark book.
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