Appreciate Your Health
I am greatly appreciative that I won’t spend eternity in hell because of the shed blood of Jesus and my faith in his sacrifice. I also appreciate that one day I will spend eternity in heaven, free from sickness, illness, disease and suffering. In fact, every time I get sick, and it’s pretty rare, I gain a new appreciation for my health. Sometimes you don’t appreciate the things you have until you lose them. That doesn’t have to be the case, we can be thankful at all times, but sometimes hardship results in greater gratitude.
Appreciate Your Family
Not only was I sick over this past week, so were my two sons. Having sick children is a pain that can be worse for a parent than the child. While we were home sick together we spent a lot of time hanging out doing nothing. We played some games, watched some shows, ate and rested, but for the most part we were lying around listless and weak. It was by no means a Disney vacation, but it was still time together and I felt closer to my kids because of it. It made me appreciative of the family God has given me. And I was all the more appreciative of my wife who took care of all of us and added the title of head nurse to her many other great features and roles.
In the End
I am so glad that I’m feeling better now. To wake up and feel normal is better than a trip to the zoo. I’m jazzed about just feeling well enough to go through my day without a great deal of agony. I’m glad this flu is over! I can’t say that I’d ever want this sickness or anything similar again. I’ve had enough. What I can say is that God’s grace is sufficient and He is able to make even a time of sickness a time of learning. So no matter how you find yourself today – sick, well, rich or poor – remember God is there with you, heaven soon awaits you (if you’ve trusted Christ) and life on this earth is a quickly fleeting journey. So live for God with all your might and be thankful for everything He has given you. Amen.
Over the last week I have been sick with the flu. It has been a miserable seven days full of symptoms that covered my whole body. I’ll spare you the details. In my time of illness I believe God spoke to my heart and taught me several things. Now I want to be clear, I don’t ascribe sickness to God or believe that God makes us sick to teach us lessons. However, I do believe that God can use everything in our lives, good or bad, sent from Him or sent from Satan, to teach us and develop our faith. (Romans 8:28)
Heaven will be a wonderful place
Over the period of my sickness I just “happened” to stumble across a book about heaven that my wife purchased. It is one of the many books describing one man’s experience of going to heaven and returning to tell all. I found it fascinating. I realized that I don’t spend enough time dwelling on the hereafter as I should. Heaven is going to be a wonderful experience where sickness is eradicated, joy and peace are prominent and time with Jesus will be sweet. Being sick made me hungry for heaven!
Hell will be a terrible place
“Ironically” during the same week that I began reading the book on heaven, I also saw an interview on TV with Bill Wiese author of 23 Minutes in Hell. Wiese, a hard working, successful real estate agent and honest Christian was sent by God to hell for 23 minutes. He returned a changed man with a message on his heart – God doesn’t want you to go to hell! Bill’s compelling story gives you the chills and makes you want to share your faith with greater intentionality and passion. Being sick to me is just a tiny glimpse of what hell is like. In fact, I think we get glimpses of both heaven and hell on earth. We have beautiful days and times in life where everything seems right and then we have days when we suffer through life miserable and in pain. Being sick helped me again realize I don’t want hell for myself or for anyone else!
