lesson learned (from stef!!)

Ok...it’s me, Stefani! I’m not always quick to do a blog entry since my writings look like a third grader’s compared to Kyle’s.

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers as I battled the flu this week. Let me just say it was the most pain I have been in in a long time. I forgot how bad the flu hurts...your entire body...head to toe. And the fever...man, that just made things worse. I am healing as we speak, trying to get rid of the last bits of coughing, runny nose, and body aches.

I’m writing to share with you what God taught me through this last week. I laid in my bed for 3 1/2 days feeling sorry for myself, moaning, and generally thinking that I just wanted to go away until I felt better. I missed home. At home, you can do or get all the things that make you feel better. Things are a little different here. Kyle did an amazing job trying to find anything and everything to help the fever stay away and keep the aches to a minimum. (By the way, he is an amazing husband...in my opinion, the best!!)

So this all started on Tuesday afternoon on our way to see Andre. Andre is an ex-con who has been out of prison for about 6 months now on medical parole. He is very ill, fighting cancer with every ounce of his strength. His doctor says he is a “walking dead man”. He has 20 tumors in just one lung. The tumors spread all over his entire body, in his liver, kidneys, everywhere. And there I was, standing in Andre’s room praying for him, and I realize...this man is in so much pain. He refuses to die in the hospital, so he just lays in his bed at home praying that God would heal him. He is an example of what true faith looks like to me. We spent some time with him and then headed home. It was on the way home that I realized that I was starting to feel really bad. My head hurt, my body ached, and I had this pain in my chest...so I went home and went to bed.

Wednesday morning I was silly and tried to go to the church for a normal day knowing that I was feeling awful. There was our beautiful friend, recently diagnosed with AIDS, waiting in front of the church to help out for the day. She looked at me and could tell something was wrong. I tried to stay throughout the day...only getting worse...until I decided I had to head home to get some rest. She hugged me as I was leaving and even shed a few tears. She was worried about me...worried about ME...

God has been tugging on my heart all week and I really didn’t know why. It hit me today. I was sick this week for a reason. He opened my eyes and gave me a new understanding of what the people He has called me to serve live with. What I went through this past week....all the pain...the sleepless nights...the tears shed... is what my friends here deal with all the time. They can’t just go to a doctor to get help or to a chemist for medicine. They literally just turn to God for healing and they trust that if He wants to heal them...He will. This is beautiful to me.

Thanks for your prayers! I love you guys.