Shogrens in Costa Rica

FROM THE HEART OF KAREN

Sometimes it takes longer than I expect to process what I’ve experienced: understand what happened, name the feelings, feel them, and move forward into a new normal.  I’m still processing my health scare of April 2024, and I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned.  A year ago, we shared with you that I was diagnosed with massive blood clots in my right leg and both lungs.  My healthcare providers didn’t explain much at the time, but now that the crisis is over, every new doctor looks at me like I’m a ghost, clearly surprised and unsettled to see me alive.  Eventually I understood that I had not “almost died”, but I “was dying” then in the ICU.  Clearly God reached down, intervened, and gave me my life back.

Of course, I praise Him for that healing and the opportunity to continue to serve Him by teaching leaders about child safety!  But there’s more.  I was in the ICU for 3 days, waiting until the new meds reached a therapeutic level.  Just like John Bunyan found prison a good place to get his writing done, I’ve usually found hospital stays to be a great way to get work done!  But I hadn’t planned this to be a long visit, so I didn’t bring any work with me.  Many of our family came and kept me company one day, and Gary was there as long as he could be, but there was still a lot of free time.

Apparently, the ICU was slow during my stay, so my nurses had time to hang around more than usual.  And each one of them was a Christian.  They instantly connected with me and wanted to know about our missionary work, especially my work in child safety.  They went out of their way to make me as comfortable as possible on total bed rest and looked for excuses to come in and rejoice in our shared love for our God.  It really felt like one long praise and worship service!  One nurse even asked me to share how we knew God was calling us into missions, because she was feeling God tugging on her heart to do the same.

At the time, I was just surprised to be surrounded by fellow Christians and enjoyed it.  But now that I know the full extent of my health situation, it’s clear that there was a lot more going on.  God knew I was dying. He was fixing the problem, but He made sure to be there IN PERSON, in the form of His Body, so I would be well cared for, protected, and loved during such a vulnerable time. God knew ahead of time and went to a lot of trouble to organize staff scheduling and who-knows-what-else to literally be there with me bodily, by surrounding me with His Body, members of His Church.  As I look back, His presence with us was so real, it was a sacred time.

But that wasn’t the end of the lesson.  By September, I was well enough to travel with my friend Nancy to the Getty Sing! Conference in Nashville. Most of you know that my college training was in Bible and music.  I treasure God’s Word, and music is one of the most significant ways I commune with Him.  A Getty conference is a lovely blend of both!  I treasured the time singing God’s praises with 4000 people, a professional band, and orchestra!  But more significantly, if you take a quick survey of the Gettys’ music, you’ll notice that most of their songs address our own death and resurrection.  The words are expressions of faith in God’s sovereignty and wisdom, and the hope we have in Him.  So for 3 days, just as I was starting to grasp how close to death I’d been, and how suddenly it had happened, I found myself singing song after song filled with words of faith in God’s victory over death: “Sing the vict’ry of the Lamb” , “I know how the story ends, we’ll be with You until the end”, “Now and ever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death”. (If you look at “Christus Victor” on YouTube, it was recorded there with all of us singing in the background.  The other two songs I quoted are Shane and Shane’s “You’ve Already Won” and the Gettys’ “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”.)

But there’s more! Gary wrote a commentary on 1 Corinthians, and lately he’s preached several sermons on chapter 15, the resurrection chapter. Last Sunday, preaching about it in Ocean City, New Jersey, Gary commented that he thinks it’s a very important doctrines, but is woefully under-preached. That struck me. My own husband being used of God to continue the lesson He’s teaching me, reinforcing that “everlasting life” means that at Christ’s return, we will all be given our permanent, real body.  What joy it will be after death living life in a body with our loved ones in their bodies, enjoying eternity together, wholly body and spirit, in the presence of our God. 

God has allowed me to understand what happened to me and taught me to interpret it in the light of the truth of His Gospel.  I’m sharing this with you because I suspect you too have experienced very difficult things, and I know God was working behind the scenes during them to sustain you and provide what you needed.  I hope you will ask Him to show you how He took care of you, highlight the members of His Body who provided for you, and interpret what happened through the truth of His Word.  Then please take some time to praise Him for what He has done for you and worship Him using your own beloved songs, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Blessings! Karen