“Sickness is A Chance”

“I forgot how hard it is,” I told Mom the other day—referring to the nausea of course. My doctor predicted this. “The maternal desire in women is an amazing thing,” he said. “You all endure months of sickness, severe pain in childbirth, and even suffer serious complications. Then, you turn around and do it all over again!”

Go figure. We as women all suffer from the same unique variety of amnesia. Maybe they inject something in the hospital IV that erases the pain from our memory. Or maybe it’s just one look into our baby’s eyes. Powerful stuff.

I have so much to be grateful for. I know the nausea will only last through my first trimester. And I know that “morning” sickness is a good sign. And at the end of this yuckiness, Lord-willing, is a long-awaited blessing. I’m smiling.

But being sick is hard. There’s no denying that. And it turns my thoughts to people I know who really suffer…friends and family who live with chronic pain or illness. How do they do it? I wonder. How do they joyfully live with constant pain, never knowing when it will end? Of course I know it is only by God’s abundant grace. And feeling sick myself reminds me to pray for them.

One of my all-time favorite authors, David Powlison, has recently written a wonderful primer on praying for the sick. It’s addressed to pastors, but very instructive for us all. Here are a few lines to convince you to read more:

“Sickness, like any other weakness and trouble, should force us to stop, to face ourselves, and to look for the Lord. It’s a chance to find sins we have been too busy to notice and…a chance to find a quickened need for Jesus’ mercies and a deepened delight in God.”

I’m glad for this fleeting nausea, this reminder to stop and face myself and look for the Lord. I pray God will help all those who are suffering--really suffering--to do the same.