Saturday, February 7, 2009

Modes of Coping

One of my dear students spent several months in South Africa, ministering to the poorest of the poor. While stopped at a street light, her car was broken into and all three women were robbed. Thank God nothing worse happened. It wasn't until they got to the police station that they realized that they were also bleeding from the glass that cut their faces when the front windshield was smashed.

Our minds and bodies switch into emergency gear during emergencies. This is how we are designed by God (not mindless evolution). But when the crisis wanes a bit, other items come into view. For us, this means thinking about how an acute problem that required radical treatment will affect the previous chronic problems. Healthy bodies bound back after trauma. Unhealthy bodies are another story. So, we are fairly confident the infection will be mastered by the drugs and that therapy will bring back proper functions. We continue to pray to that end, as do many others. But what will be the long term consequences of six weeks of infusion antibiotics, a pic line and the rest? We do not know. But we will hope and storm heaven with Scripture, pleading the promises of God on our behalf for healing and restoration for God's glory and our good.

1 comment:

  1. It is difficult to cope with a problem that has no defined end.

    Even in terminal illness, doctors can make some guesses as to when a person's physical suffering will be over.

    When "crisis" turns into "chronic" there is an admission that it may always be this way -- in fact it likely will. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

    My continued prayers are with you and your wife as you travel down this road that our sovereign God has placed before you.

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