Most of you know that I became an incubus of viral plague in the middle of the week with some type of stomach virus. I can honestly say that I don't recall ever being as sick as I was with that stomach virus. I was up for almost 48 hours straight and literally moved into the bathroom the second night. In the middle of the night that second night as I was dealing with all this pain I was struck with a real sense of reality. When it hit it sounded something like this in my head, "Oh crap, I'm sick and I'm in a foreign country." This means there are no 24 hour Walmarts, CVS' or Walgreens to get an OTC medicine to help relieve symptoms. Nope. Just me, the porcelain throne, the bathtub serving as a temporary bed and lots of prayers (I was told there were some 300 people praying for me after the prayer request was sent out to Frank and Carol's prayer partners, the Kehilat here, my facebook posts, etc).
In between the more intense stomach pains and the less intense stomach pains I started to gain a new appreciation for what many of my friends and FI family have already experienced when they moved to the country with which God burdened their hearts. I've never thought that this would be an easy walk... especially being in Israel and all the added dynamics I've been told (or warned?) about. But there was an element, you know, that whole lack of experience thing that kept me from fully understanding the sacrifice it takes to be obedient to God. I know that I will have to pay my dues and I have a lot of learning ahead of me but I can safely say that I have had a reality check.
So... back to that reality check. As I am trying to just make it through until the next morning when I could get some medicine or maybe call a doctor I start to think about all the other servants of God serving on the foreign field that have experienced this same thing. The comforts and conveniences of America were left behind for strange languages, strange medicines, and well, everything foreign. Who knows what kind of medicine I'm taking. The box is in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. I'm 0 for 3 on those languages. But at least it came in a box which is more than other people could say in other nations! Then the thought came to me that thank God I have an indoor bathroom with working plumbing (and that this didn't start 1 day before when the water to the village was shut off for pipe work with that announcement being made for several days by a guy driving around with a megaphone but if you don't understand the language it's easy to miss that memo). I could be dealing with nothing but a hole in the ground or the floor.
Then I went a little further and I began to think about all those who are currently in a jail somewhere being persecuted for their faith. These people won't get medical treatment if they are sick, they won't have anything that could help ease their pain. All they have is the prayers of the saints. Reality check. All this has made me appreciate all those people that I know who gave up the comforts of their home country, all that was familiar to them to serve a people in another country. The next time I hear of a prayer request from one of them I will pray harder because now I have a little taste of what it feels like. Albeit tiny, but that was enough.
I even had a greater understanding when I recently read one new mother venting because she wasn't able to get the things she really wanted to make her daughters first birthday as special as she wanted. This wasn't anything earth shattering or life threatening but another reminder of daily picking up your cross to follow Him. It's daily dying to your own desires to love the people He has sent you to even when they don't love you back. Dealing with the frustration of not being able to read street signs, or store signs, or know how much you just paid for something at a grocery store (that was a grocery store right?). Dealing with driving habits, or lack there of, and attitudes and cultural nuances that seem insane (why are the light switches on the outside of a room and why is there no plug socket in the bathroom?!). Trying to find a new normal when there is NOTHING normal around you. And yet, we continue to do it because we are compelled by a Love that is greater than us and because there joy in the midst of obedience even when it's difficult. It truly is an amazing phenomenon that God does in our hearts isn't it?
So far this experience has shown me how weak I am and how much I need the Lord. It's a scarier feeling that I thought it would be however when I'm weak that is when He is strong. I'm still in a relative comfort zone. I'm with people I know who have been wonderful hosts who can take me around, explain certain things, go with me to stores, etc. About a week from now when I head to Jerusalem that may not be the case and I will be shoved "out of the nest" so to speak. But I'm determined. Determined to continue pressing on and knowing that I will experience MANY more of these reality checks especially when I move here. His grace is sufficient and so on we go because turning back isn't an option. Those bridges were burned long ago with that one simple answer to His call, "Yes."
Bathtub bed... one day I'll laugh about this experience... I hope!
Medicine given by the pharmacy
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