God's Surprise Plan

All through Lent, I kept telling myself that I wanted to make Holy Week one of the best weeks I've ever experienced.  

Lent taught me so much discipline and obedience as I got up each morning at 5am to spend quiet time with God.  

Even on those mornings I felt tired, God brought me a lot of peace and strength.

As Holy Week was approaching, I saw all the events going on at my church each day and became excited hoping to go to each event.

As Monday finally arrived, I noticed my pep wasn't as peppy as it had been throughout Lent.  I tried to just shake it off as I did have a busy weekend and stayed up far too late partying it up with Tim McGraw at Notre Dame.  Awesome concert, btw!

As the day progressed, I could tell that something wasn't right but still chose to ignore the weirdness my body (er, God!) was trying to tell me.  As I got home, I felt like I had been hit by a huge semi-truck and decided I was going to stay home that night and rest so I could make all the other events the rest of the week.

BUT GOD HAD A DIFFERENT PLAN FOR ME.

SURPRISE!!!!!!

I woke up the next morning with the worst symptoms of the flu I think I've ever had and knew that God had something different in store for me the rest of the week.

And it wasn't going to any of the events either.

I tested positive for influenza A and seriously felt and looked like death.  I spent the next 6 days sleeping mostly and asking God why this was happening during Holy Week.   

Why are You giving me a high fever that spikes to temps that should probably kill me?

Why are You giving me aches and chills that make me feel like winter has come again?

Why are You giving me a cough that is causing my throat to feel like it's on fire?

Why did just moving from my bed to the couch knock me out for another 2-3 hours?

Why is this happening when all I wanted was to increase my obedience to you, God????

Little did I know that He was about to use my suffering to teach me more about obedience than I ever thought possible.

I kept Jesus' suffering at the very forefront of my mind every day.  I kept telling myself that He endured even more pain and suffering than I could ever experience from the flu.

What was my suffering trying to teach me about Jesus?

My uncontrollable chills (what guilt of sins can do to us emotionally and physically) -- The Agony in the Garden, Jesus feeling the weight of our sins, teaching us the importance of repentance of our sins.

My severe aches (toxins of our sins) -- The Scourging at the Pillar, heavy blows to His body that should have killed Him, teaching us what true purity and selflessness is.

My headache and fever (our sins can prevent moral knowledge) -- The Crowning of Thorns, Jesus teaching us the importance of moral courage of doing what is right over wrong.

My extreme exhaustion and fatigue (the determination to bear our crosses with patience) -- The Carrying of the Cross, the exhaustion and pain Jesus endured, however, he kept pushing forward with patience and determination, teaching us the virtue of patience.

My throat on fire (what temptation can feel like, the rocky path of faith we will experience till our time of death) -- The Crucifixion, teaching us that no matter how hard it is to stay on the path of faith,  no matter how severe the temptation, Jesus remained faithful to God through it all and died for our sins, teaching us that by having true faith in God, it will give us the armor we need to face everything and lead us to everlasting life.

WOW!

Never did I think I could learn so much about Christ's suffering for our sins from one simple but horrible flu I had.

God taught me true obedience through my suffering and I couldn't be more grateful from how powerful last week truly was for me.

Even if today was the first day I felt like a human again!

I encourage you to think of Christ's suffering when you feel yourself suffering and see if you learn something just as powerful.

It might change your life!

It certainly brought me closer to my faith!

Thank you God for this amazing lesson!!