I hate being sick!

     Don't you just hate being sick?!  I have a small flu bug that has my entire system and day upset.  I have no clue where I got it, don't want it, and never asked for it.  Yet, here I am with the flu on a beautiful sunny day when I should be outside enjoying the world of my 3 acres.  But no, I'm in my recliner with a blanket over me and typing this blog.  When I'm sick one of my primary reactions is to be a complainer.  I'm seldom sick so it's out of character for me.  People around me tend to stay away not only so they don't get the bug but because they don't want to hear my complaining.  So, for the day I will not go to church where I would undoubtedly infect others, I'll drink lots of fluids, and I'll rest.  I'll sit here and look at the wonder of God's world and rejoice in his goodness rather than wallow in self pity.  This will give me time to catch up on paperwork, read my Bible, pray and other things that are necessary for me to be sedentary. 
     People have asked me why I don't just pray and ask God to take the flu bug away.  Well, I do.  It's just that I ask the second part of that prayer: "but not my will but your will be done."  We often forget that God isn't out puppet and doesn't do our bidding just because we ask.  Sometimes we don't recognize the answer even when it smacks us in the face.  For instance, there are many ways that God heals us.  The spectrum goes from the miraculous to just taking us home.  Since I'm not wanting to go home today I'll not ask for that.  He also has doctors and other medical professionals who can help heal us.  There are medicinal solutions as well such as chicken soup.  That's one of the reasons why God put chickens on earth.  At least it could be.  One of my biggest difficulties with God's healing is when he sends someone to help me.  I don't especially like people's help and resist the need to have someone help me.  I feel so out of control!  But then maybe that's why I go the flu in the first place?  Maybe the flu was intended to slow me down and for me to take a break from my manic approach to projects and my gardens. 
     Some people seem to be perpetually sick.  Often this is a cry for attention and the quandary it presents is that people don't want to be around sick people.  The sicker you are the more likely you won't have any visitors.  The exception is when you are on your death bed.  Then relatives come by so that they can be remembered in your will.  I know that's negative but some relatives are like that.  God says that he wants to be the Father who cares for his kids.  He says that we are so important that he has numbered the hairs on our heads.  He says that he knit us together in our mother's womb.  He says that one day he will take us home where there is no more sin or suffering.  That's what he says and he is true to his word.  We're the ones who try to dodge the bullet.  Maybe God let me get sick so that I could write this blog for someone who needs to read and hear what it says.  I just don't know.  My task from God was to write whatever he put on my heart.  This was it.  I pray that each one reading this will encounter the God of all healing.  He is there and working.  We just need to pause in life long enough to see what he is doing, listen to what he is saying and then do what he asks us to do.  Remember that it's always your choice.