Lessons Learned In Illness

Our love and prayers go out to all those who are currently suffering with illness, whether from Covid-19 or other issues. Many in our personal circle are afflicted, and the sheer numbers of those who are ill in our state, country and the world are staggering. Sickness of any kind is a heavy burden that weighs on the individual themselves, their family, and their communities, physically, spiritually, and economically. 

Although my husband is still undergoing cancer treatment, we are blessed that he is tolerating it well and that we enjoy good health and energy levels overall and an active lifestyle. But as the Lord gives, He can also take away (Job 1:21), and we know that circumstances could change at any moment according to His perfect will (James 4:14). When we were both acutely ill with respiratory issues in 2017, I wrote the blog post below, and I felt led to edit and repost it now in hopes that it might bless someone currently struggling with illness. 

 

 

The Bible and our own lives overflow with examples of why God allows us to suffer through trials for our ultimate good and His glory (Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:12). They draw us closer to Him in faith and complete reliance on His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9); they give us wisdom, compassion and experience to counsel others going through similar trials (1 Corinthians 10:13), and they mold us into the image of His Son through suffering (Philippians 3:10).

 

Praise God, my husband Richard and I have been blessed with generally excellent health since being saved, although we have not been immune to other trials. But in the fall of  2017,as he was recovering from bronchitis, and I far more slowly from pneumonia, we  realized that there are additional lessons to be learned from illness in particular. These include:

Gratitude for blessings we ordinarily take for granted. There is a saying, “What if we had today only those things we thanked God for yesterday?” As the pneumonia grabbed hold, I wished I had thanked God more for the gifts of breathing freely, undisturbed sleep, appetite, and walking across the room without having to cough or get short of breath.

The apostle Paul tells us to give thanks in all things, for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning us (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In other words, it is God’s will that we have a thankful heart through all trials. In addition, we can have faith that whatever He allows into our life is His perfect will for us – not something we would choose or may even understand, but something He will use for our ultimate good and His glory.

Humility. When I am well, part of my ego and flesh are invested in my worldly accomplishments: teaching, singing, dancing. I have long realized and acknowledged that these are only possible as He allows, and that He has entrusted these gifts to my stewardship provided I am faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2).

But nothing drives the point home that without Him, I can’t even take my next breath, when I struggled to do just that. By the grace of God, in 2017 before getting sick we completed in four days a series of five physically demanding dance shows (ten dances) to a total audience of more than 5000 people. Yet once I became ill, it was a struggle to stand up long enough to brush my teeth, and I am thankful that no one witnessed that struggle.

Without Him I am nothing and can do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26) I prayed that He would restore my strength in His perfect will and timing, and He answered that prayer! But while awaiting recovery, I praised God that His grace is sufficient, and that His strength is made perfect in my weakness! He gave me reason to glory in the illness, for when I am weak, He is strong, and His power may rest upon me! (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Compassion and intercession for others. It is relatively easy to pray for those who are sick and hurting as their names come up on our prayer list. But sometimes it takes being sick ourselves to have empathy for what these dear ones are going through, empathy that brings them into our heart in the still of the night and leads us to lift them up before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). If we pray one for another, we will be healed (James 5:16), for when we do that, we are not praying for our own selfish desires (James 4:3).

God finally ended Job’s troubles and restored him completely once he began praying for his friends (Job 42:10). Personal sickness reminds us of what the apostle Paul said about the whole church body being out of joint when a single member hurts (1 Corinthians 12:26-27). It teaches us to pray fervently, not only in our affliction, but once our health is restored, for those brethren in physical need. Only then are we showing God’s love, by bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).

When I was ill, I was humbled by expressions of love and kindness, as well as prayers, from those who were chronically ill and had health and other issues far worse than mine. My prayer was that this illness would teach me to follow their Godly example of self-sacrificing love!

Knowing that God is working all things together.  Once we are saved by placing our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), we are His called and chosen people, for whom He has had a specific purpose or mission since before the world began (Ephesians 1:5,11). This illness did not catch Him by surprise, and He made provision to lessen the burden in so many ways.

My husband’s illness began before mine, so that I was able to take care of him at his worst, and to do household chores and order supplies that would simplify our lives once my illness began. When my pneumonia was at its peak, Richard had already begun to recover, and I am truly blessed and humbled by his loving care and attention to me when I needed it most.

Because of our extended time away for the dance shows, we had cleaned and organized the house before we left, so the environment was more conducive to healing once we returned. Because of Hurricane Irma, the Missions Conference at our church, to which we ordinarily devote a considerable amount of our time, energy, and resources, was postponed.

At the worst point of the pneumonia God gave me the wisdom to realize that we could not be ready for a major event scheduled at our ballroom in only two weeks, despite our best intentions. Richard was in complete agreement and made all arrangements for it to be rescheduled for early 2018, which turned out to be an unexpected blessing for many others involved, as well as a considerable load off our minds and weary bodies.

Praying and living moment by moment. As I lay awake one night feverish and unable to sleep, I thoughtlessly prayed, “Dear Lord, Please let me sleep restfully through the night and let me be completely healed in the morning.” We always want what we want, and we want it now!  

But God knows what we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8), even if it is not what we think we want; He answers in the best possible way (Matthew 7:11); and His timing is always perfect (Galatians 4:4). Tribulation gives rise to patience and increased faith as we wait on His perfect solution, and patience in turn leads to experience, hope, and the loveof God flowing from our hearts to others (Romans 5:3-5). 

We are not promised tomorrow (James 4:14; Luke 12:16-20), so we should be mindful of and thankful for every moment He allots us. God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), and He asks us to pray each day for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), not for supplies to hoard for the future. When the Israelites attempted to gather manna for the next day, it would spoil (Exodus 16). Praise God that He gives us fresh blessings every moment!

As I thought about my prayer, I realized that in an extreme form, it would be like being born again (John 3:3-8), and then praying: “Dear Lord, Thank You for saving me. Now please let me have a great life serving You, and when I see You face-to-face, I’ll give You all the glory!” A Christian praying such a prayer in isolation could not be a useful vessel to Jesus Christ, as our walk with Him (Colossians 2:6; 1 John 1:7) depends on constantly listening for and following the sound of His still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12).

So I modified my sleepless prayer, “Dear Lord, You have promised never to leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5), Please enfold me in Your arms for the next hour and give your beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2) that is peaceful, healing, restoring, and renewing. Thank You for the healing You will bring about with Your perfect timing and grace.”

God answered that prayer, and when I awoke in a little over an hour I prayed it again, this time sleeping for more than two hours, for He answers our prayers exceeding abundantly beyond what we could do or think! (Ephesians 3:20). Throughout the night I alternated between refreshing sleep, sweet fellowship with Him, and prayer for others He brought to my heart. In the morning I felt that healing was beginning to be underway.

Under Divine inspiration, the apostle Paul commanded us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:3). When life seems to be going as we had planned and hoped, we are less likely to thank God in constant praise and worship and to seek His face regarding His will for our life. But when He brings us to our knees, we are in the best possible position to pray continually to be aligned with His specific mission for us.

This involves not only His overall will for our life, but specific assignments He gives us daily to test our obedience and accomplish His purposes. What would have happened if Jesus, Who had the single most significant God-given destiny, did not take the time or considered Himself too important to be interrupted by the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), or the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-44), the lepers, the blind, or so many others?

May the lessons learned in illness and other trials stay with us, reminding us to rely solely on Jesus Christ and His perfect plan for our lives; to pray for and help others with sincere, heartfelt compassion; and to live empowered by Him, thank Him and pray to Him moment by moment!

© 2017 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

Germination

Germination

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided many learning experiences. Some we wish we had never needed to endure. Yet others enriched us in unexpected ways as we dealt with new restrictions but had more time to explore unexpected avenues.

For example, muhly grass. I had never heard of this tropical plant. But when searching for the perfect ground cover near the beach house, it turned out that muhly grass has many attributes making it suitable for this climate. It can withstand scorching, direct sun; sandy soil; salt air; and long periods of drought. The root system extends laterally, giving it stability even in gale force winds, and allowing us to plant it over the septic system without concern that deep vertical roots would clog the drainage field.

Most of the time, this perennial grass has attractive blue-green stalks. In late summer through fall, mature plants dazzle the beholder with feathery pink blooms that resemble cotton candy!

Well, at least in the pictures. Our quest for muhly grass began with purchasing seeds in an Etsy store. After payment, I glanced at the fine print and realized the seeds were coming from Romania! The 2-week ETA extended to 5 weeks as the packet was held up in customs in Texas. But evidently the inspectors concluded that it did not contain opium poppy or other deleterious seeds, and it finally arrived at our door.

The seeds were tiny, like the proverbial mustard seed Jesus used as an example of faith (Matthew 17:20). We poked shallow holes in egg-cup sized peat pellets, as the seeds need light to germinate, but enough depth not to blow away. Each day we misted and checked for signs of germination, but there were none.

Three weeks had elapsed, past the expected germination time, and yet no signs of life. Small wonder, I thought, as the seeds could easily have been damaged during their long, arduous, journey full of delays.

On Easter Sunday I again went through this morning ritual. Yet as I lifted the clear plastic cover, a few tiny, fragile, yet unmistakable green shoots had sprouted from their dark tombs! What a fitting reminder of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) Who died for our sins, then arose that all who trust Him would have eternal life!

Our “babies,” as my husband calls them, have a long way to go before they are ready to be transplanted in the ground, and even longer before they delight us with clouds of pink blossoms. Will we have the faith and be afforded the opportunity to see their potential realized?

This ongoing experience reminds me of the parable of the sower, and of Jesus’ command to sow the seed of His Word, no matter what unfavorable conditions we may encounter.

In this parable, Jesus uses the sower to represent one who spreads God’s Word; the seed as a symbol of the Word itself, and the soil as the state of the heart of the one who hears the Word. Mark 4 and Matthew 13 have nearly identical accounts of the parable and its explanation, emphasizing the importance and truth of this Scripture passage.

Jesus describes four conditions of the soil, or the heart, when confronted with the Word. If the seed falls outside the furrow prepared by the farmer, birds will eat it before it can even germinate (Mark 4:4). This represents the person who hears the Word but is immediately distracted by one of Satan’s lies (Mark 4:15). Clearly, this person rejected the Word and was not saved by hearing it

The second heart condition is like stony ground (Mark 4:5-6). Seeds planted here sprout quickly in the shallow earth, but the rocky ledge beneath prevents the seed from rooting. In the sun’s heat, the shoot withers away because it has no root to nourish it with water.

The person whose heart is rocky ground also undergoes no permanent change after hearing the Word (Mark 4:16-17). They react at first with joy but the Word has not taken root in their heart, and the Holy Spirit has not indwelled them because they “have no root in themselves.”

Such a person might be pleased to hear that Heaven could await them, but they do not repent of their sins, trust Christ as their Lord and Savior, or enter into a personal relationship with Christ. We speak of such a person as having a “head knowledge,” but not a “heart knowledge” of the Gospel. They may call themselves Christians and may join a church, but if it becomes politically incorrect or dangerous to do so, they will renounce the “faith” that they never had in the first place (Mark 4:17).

They may even believe that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead, but that truth does not change their life in any meaningful way – they are not a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They could be happy with the idea that Christ died so that they could have a “get out of hell free” card, but they see no reason to labor for His Kingdom.

A Biblical example of such a person could be King Agrippa, whom Paul “almost persuaded” to be a Christian (Acts 16:28). Sadly, you can’t be almost saved any more than you can be almost pregnant, and a person who is almost Christian is doomed to eternity in hell.

The third type of soil or heart condition described by Christ is the thorny soil, in which thorns rapidly overtake the good seed of the Word, choking it so that it cannot grow and bear fruit (Mark 4:7). In this situation, the Word never has the chance to affect the hearer, because worldly cares, such as the love of money or power, crowd it out (Mark 4:18-19).

The rich young ruler, for example, asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life, but he believed he was righteous in his own merit and wealth was his god, leaving no room for the true Savior (Luke 18:18-25). Jesus explained that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25).

Another example was Judas, who latched onto Jesus because he thought He would overthrow Roman rule, but his greed (John 12:6) and desire for military power outweighed any alliance he felt to Jesus. The devil entered into Judas (John 13:2), and he was the “son of perdition,” (John 17:12) confirming that he was never saved.

Jesus will disown those who hear His Word but have hearts like stony or thorny soil, even though they may have done good works in His name and may even have shared the Scripture with others (Matthew 7:21-23).

It is not enough to believe that Jesus was a good man, that He died for our sins, or even that He rose from the dead. It is not enough to call ourselves Christians, join a church, or be baptized. We must trust Him, and Him alone, with childlike faith and love (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14-15), as our Lord and Savior.

As the saying goes, the distance between knowing about Christ and knowing Him as Savior, Spouse, Brother and Friend could be as little as 15 inches – the distance from head to heart. Only when we accept His precious gift of salvation by grace alone through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) will the Holy Spirit of Christ indwell our heart (Ephesians 1:13-14).

That state of heart is represented by the good soil in the parable of the sower, in which the seed of the Word grows to maturity and allows the hearer to bear fruit in an increase 30 to 100 times over the seed that was sown (Mark 4:8,20). Ask any farmer what it takes to have good soil, and he will answer that it must be plowed up to remove rocks and weeds and to allow nourishing air and water to penetrate it.

Similarly, our hearts must be thoroughly worked over before we ache and groan with despair over our sinfulness, and before we realize that without our Savior, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Trials and heartache often precede coming to the end of ourselves, making our hearts fertile and ready to receive His saving grace.

The good soil is the only one of the four heart conditions that bears fruit, confirming that this is the only condition resulting in true salvation, in being born again (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). Jesus tells us that we can discern the condition of another’s heart by the fruit they bear (Matthew 7:16-20).

Although we are saved by grace through faith and not by works, we are saved not to sit idly by waiting to go to Heaven, but to do good works, because faith without works is dead (Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:20,26). Once our own seed of faith takes root, we are to bear fruit by sowing God’s Word in the hearts of others.

Once we are genuinely saved through faith and the Holy Spirit has taken root in our heart, we can never lose our salvation (Romans 8:35-39) even though we may hit barren, rocky or thorny patches. Born-again Christians may grow cold in their faith, backslide and become disobedient, or become unproductive for Him.

Nonetheless, He will never leave nor forsake His children (Hebrews 13:5). He is there waiting like the prodigal son’s Father to run to us and shower us with love once we take the first step back to Him (Luke 15:20). If we repent of our sins, He will renew our faith and revive our hearts (1 John 1:9; Psalm 51:8-12).

May our hearts be like good soil, ready to cultivate His Word and nurture our growing faith to maturity, so we can sow more seed and bear much fruit! May we sow light for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11). 

May we learn and follow the law of the harvest, that we will sow what we reap, either to the flesh bearing sorrow (Proverbs 22:8), or to the Spirit bearing eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).  May we sow God’s Word boldly and bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6), without waiting for perfect conditions (Ecclesiastes 11:4), so that the harvest of souls brought to Him will be great! 

Sowing the precious seed of God’s Word may initially bring the sorrow of disappointment, or even of persecution, as we see no reward for our labor. But if we persevere, we will ultimately rejoice, bearing much fruit (Psalm 126:6; Galatians 6:9) and hearing our Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21,23)

Now that spring is here, may you have hope and faith to sustain you in planting, whether flowers, vegetables, or even muhly grass!  May your physical and spiritual gardens soon be in full bloom, and may the Gospel seeds you plant take root in fertile soil!

© 2021 Laurie Collett