So after several days (weeks) of wishing I was feeling better, I opened to this reading in Jesus Calling the other morning.

February 16

Thank me for the conditions that are requiring you to be still.  Do not spoil these quiet hours by wishing them away, waiting impatiently to be active again.  Some of the greatest works in My kingdom have been done from sick beds and prison cells.  Instead of resenting the limitations of a weakened body, search for My way in the midst of these very circumstances.  Limitations can be liberating when your strongest desire is to living close to Me.

Quietness and trust enhance your awareness of My Presence with you.  Do not despise these simple ways of serving Me.  Although you feel cut off from the activity of the world, your quiet trust makes a powerful statement in spiritual realms.  My Strength and Power show themselves most effective in weakness.

Zechariah 2:13; Isaiah 30:15; 2 Corinthians 12:9 (AMP)

I know many of you read the Jesus Calling devotional.  Do you find, as I do, that often – very often – the reading directly pertains to what you’re dealing with?  I don’t know why this continues to shock me.  God uses all kinds of means to speak to us.

God continually uses my health to speak to me.  It has been my “thorn” in life for years and continues to be.  While I don’t believe God desires to see me sick often, I do believe that He ordains and allows me to have periods of sickness or light-headedness to teach me something.  After this many years, I feel I should have learned the lesson already, but alas, He continues to show me new things.

Usually when I’m under the weather, it takes me awhile to really open up to God.  I pray on and off through the day, but often I’m not communing with God.  In the beginning, I’m just dealing with symptoms and trying to manage life with the family in the midst of it. Then there’s typically a period of frustration where I so long to be healthy again.  I want to be up doing what needs to be done and feel upset that I’m not.  Then comes the real change. When I finally turn to God and really start honestly talking to Him about it all, He does a work in my heart, and then my body.  So why don’t I turn to Him first and honestly share my heart?  Why do I continue to have to learn this lesson repeatedly?  Why can’t, as the reading says, my strongest desire be to live close to Him?

Because I’m human and sinful and live in a fallen world.  I need to continue to strive to turn to Jesus first in the face of adversity, but in the mean time, God extends His amazing grace to me and loves me.  He loves me so much that He cares enough to keep teaching me this truth.  Thank you, Lord!

So, today is a turning point.  I’m choosing to look to God and trust Him despite not feeling well.  I’m choosing to be thankful for the many, many blessings He’s given me.

What does God use in your life to speak to you?  Is there something that seems to creep up often?  Could God be using that situation or circumstance to get your attention? Choose to listen to Him today.  What truth would He like you to hear?

I’d love to hear your comments on this.  Maybe something you share here will encourage another reader today.