A Stomach Bug Meets a Loving Wife

During supper on July 9th I began to feel sick. I hardly ate anything at all. I ended up going to bed early and figured I'd feel better in the morning. Boy was I wrong!

When I woke up on the 10th of July I was achey, weak, my fever was up to 103.9F, I had diarrhea, felt nauseas and could not eat anything! That lasted all day Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th. My fever would go up to 104F and then down to 95.3F. (I didn't even know it could go that low!) I alternated between moaning and groaning, crying out to God to heal me, pleading with Jesus to touch me and falling asleep to a variety of crazy dreams and purple light shows!!

Shawn and the boys took turns praying for me. Rod came by and prayed for me and brought some "lemon-med," sort of like Theraflu I think. It would knock the fever down for a few hours at a time. I prayed for me. Then on Saturday evening while everyone was off at church, Gerard, (the man who lives in the main house of the estate, aka our host) came busting into our cottage and said "Shawn has given me permission to take you to the doctor!"

The next minute we were off to the doctor's office. Within minutes he was checking me out and putting me on an IV drip to deal with my dehydration. He gave me a homeopathic thing and sent Gerard to buy some electrolyte drinks to get me boosted in that way. Then he wrote two prescriptions, one for an antibiotic for the "stomach bug" and one for a probiotic for the diarrhea. He asked me to hold off on the scripts til Sunday afternoon as he felt I should respond well without them.

I went home still weak, but hopeful for maybe the first time in 48 hours. I had a fairly restful evening but was not really getting any better. Then on Sunday Shawn and the boys had a fairly full day scheduled with our host family so off they went. I assured Shawn that I would be fine. Well as soon as they left I began to feel worse. Another day in bed with crazy dreams, purple lights, diarrhea, etc. The doctor called and instructed me to begin the prescriptions.

I began to pray again "But God I need to be healed to be able to minister here in Africa." "God are you listening?" But it seemed like I was getting worse with each prayer. "God do you even care?" Self-pity and despair were deepening. Finally I felt like just giving up on all I was doing, the prayer, the rehydrating fluids, etc. and to wait for God to do what He wanted to do whenver He got around to it. (I know it's not pretty, but it's honest!)

Just then Shawn came in the bedroom. I told her what was going on. She left and quickly returned with the laptop computer. As she gently held my hand, she began to play a playlist of music for me that she was picking on the spot. First was When I Don't Know What to Do by Tommy Walker. Well the next thing I knew I had tears in my eyes as I raised a hand in worship to my Lord and Savior. Shawn assured me that I would begin to feel better in the morning.

God had sent His answer in the form of love, a loving wife to show His love. She gave me the personal touch, the words of encouragement, and the music to lift my spirit. Later that evening God took me to Proverbs 18:22 "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." I praised God and thanked him for my wife. Then He took me to Matthew 19:16-17 "Now behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?' So He said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.' "

And God assured me that I had found a God thing when He sent me Shawn as my wife and that He will continue to pour out His love for me through her!! Amen!

Needless to say, I was beginning to feel better as I awoke on Monday. Still very weak but better. My fever was gone and I felt some strength coming back into my body. God made me strong enough to go to the prisons on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, coming home and taking long naps both afternoons. Also I was able to go to the Addict to Disciple group at Acts Christian Church on Tuesday night. PRAISE THE LORD for His faithfulness!

I've gotten stronger each day and I can say I now feel fully recovered. So, if you ever get a strange stomach bug...introduce him to a loving wife!