Embracing Your Battle

We’ve been down with a cold for a few days. Since last Wednesday most family members have taken turns in bed with high fever, bad cough and general misery. We encourage each other and have creative competitions to pass time, such as How long will it take to heat up a freezing cold room with your fever only? Or Who will be the first one to actually cough up a lung?

There’s a lot of healing in good humor. Nursing sick people is not just about pills, a damp cloth or some chicken broth. Empathy at its best is contagiously humorous. Stupid, nonsense family humor is a true lifesaver. Nothing shows so clearly that we are committed to making you feel better, no matter how sick you are, as making complete fools of ourselves. Which we do. On a regular basis.

That fever of yours is awesome, we are saving so much on our electricity bill!

Sure, no problem! Do you want the lung that I coughed up too?

Oh, that’s so sweet of you! Kids, your dad just brought us dinner!

Nothing like the love of family!

I observed Adrian as he was standing in the doorway. He has coughing hard and his face was pale and feverish. “I’m going to bed” he said. It was 6 PM, but he seemed determined to stay in bed until the morning. Sounded like a good plan to me. I gave him some medication and sent him off. I wasn’t at all worried, with time and rest he would be fine.

I took a step back to observe myself, only to realize that I wasn’t at all worried.

As I watched the back of my 16-year-old my mind took a stroll down memory lane. This was the boy who had suffered from an immune deficiency for 12 years. Any minor bug used to send his immune system spinning into overdrive, making his temperature rise to 106 ^oF in 15 minutes.  For years, we had to pay attention to even vague changes in his breath to make sure that we would get him to the hospital in time in case the fever spiked.

It was the very same boy that I had watched grow gradually worse over many years. The boy that I had read to for hours at a time, just because there was nothing else left to do to alleviate the pain. It was the same boy.

And yet, everything’s changed.

Ever since God healed Adrian four years ago, our son has responded normally to any viral or bacterial infections. He hardly ever gets sick, but when he does, his body reacts just as ours to the disease. He’s down for a couple of days before he gets back up. What’s more: his body uses these minor infections to make his immune defense system even more robust. That is the task of a good immune system  –  to take whatever comes against it, unarm it, and use it for good.

We are not exempt from pain or suffering. We are still in this world, with everything that comes with it. The Kingdom of God is here and not yet. We harbor these two thoughts simultaneously.

Whatever temporary setback you are going through, make sure that you use it to boost your stamina, your perseverance, your hope. Take whatever was meant for evil, unarm it, and use it for good! Watch your God-given creation spring into life. You are not bound by fear. You have been given power, love and a sound mind.

Instead of focusing on every setback as a waste of time or a devastating attack, watch out for what there is to gain in this season. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to fight a lion or a bear. Further down the road this combat practice might be what equips you for your anointing.

This season too shall pass, but what you gain from it for the glory of God will be yours to keep. Treasure it.