Take all of your medicine

Argghhh!! I do not like being sick. It all started with a little cough. It then progressed to a drainage issue... then into something that was so much like strep throat that it even had the doctors fooled. My youngest had it first. She missed 5 days of school. Then my son got it. Then my husband got it... and being the mom that never gets sick.... THEN I got it!! What??? I never get sick. But last Thursday, when I got up... not only could I not swallow at all... I even went to the doctor. That is something that hardly ever happens as well.

I felt so bad that I called my poor 71 year old mom to take me to the doctor. On the way home we stopped and got my prescriptions filled. So... I started on my antibiotics last Thursday. I took them all day Thursday and all day Friday. But... Saturday I felt like a new woman... so I stopped taking them. (what a great patient I am, right??) Well... I have you know that on Monday morning when I woke up... I could barely swallow again. You would think that as a mother... and a healthcare worker... that I would know that I needed to take all of my medicine!! But it all of my mighty wisdom, I decided that I had taken enough to make me better. Needless to say... I am taking my antibiotics again!!

As I have thought back over this... several things and stories have come to mind.

How sin starts out. Like my little cough... that progressed until it was a full-fledged nasty sickness. Sin may seem small... like a little lie on the phone.... but if not kept in check, it will progress until it grows into something much bigger. My preacher has said.... "sin takes you farther than you want to go... and keeps you longer than you want to stay". How true that is. It can be such a subtle thing to begin with... but before you know it.... you have gone farther than you thought you would... and it is much harder to get away. We must keep our lives in check so that we will not fall into the trap of sin.

Like just enough antibiotics to start my healing process.... just enough "Jesus" to keep you "safe" in your mind. So many people are just satisfied with going to church on Sunday morning. No quiet time. No seeking more. No longing to be like Him. It is really not what the Father prescribed. He desires for us to be changed into the likeness of His Son. I don't think that church once a week is enough to do that. We need to "take" all of the medicine that the Father can give us. His Word, His Presence, His Healing, His Peace, His Provisions... and He has so much more to give. He gives it to us. It is there for us... if we seek Him. Just like my medicine in the cabinet... as long as I just let it sit there... it will do me no good. I have to go take it. We have to seek Him... pursue Him. We will find our healing.

Then I thought about this scripture in Matthew 12:43-45

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, "I will return to the house I left", When it arrives, it find the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

This was something that struck me like a ton of bricks the first time I read it. Just like our lives. We can "remove" all of the things that were "bad" in our lives... the old sinful nature. But if we don't fill up that empty spot with something "godly" then the old sinful nature can come back with several of his evil buddies and take up residence again. Worse off than we started. I had removed the "bad" feelings of my sickness. But... I left an empty hole without resistance to the "bug" again.... so it was just about to move back in. I would have probably been worse off than when it all started. Thankfully I still had the remainder of my antibiotics in the cabinet.

So... hopefully I am on the mend AGAIN. I wouldn't have to say "again" if I had just done what the doctor had prescribed. This is what our Father has prescribed....

Jeremiah 29:12-14

"... " then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord."

Oh... I pray that I will do just that. Seek Him with all of my heart. He promises to be found.

Merry CHRISTmas to you and your family!! May God bless each and every one of you.
I love you!!