By Erin Elizabeth Austin

As I drove to the airport, my only thought was, “Lord, I’m worn-out.” Never have I needed a vacation as much as I did in that moment. I felt beaten-up emotionally, mentally, and physically, and I needed a break from all the stress and problems of life. I begged God for seven perfect days so that I could return home restored, ready to take on life once again.

While sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off, the verses of Philippians 4:6-7 kept coming to mind: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

I have heard these verses so many times in my life that I can actually quote them. Yet knowing them hasn’t made it any easier for me to “be anxious for nothing.” Maybe it’s just me, but I find it difficult to not worry when I have a chronic illness constantly rearing its ugly head. When doctors are telling me all the potential horrors that may one day occur in my body, I struggle to be thankful. And even though I know I shouldn’t worry, that doesn’t help me to stop worrying. If anything, I then become worried over the fact that I’m worried! It’s a vicious cycle and one in which many of us find ourselves.

By Josie Siler

The location was an undisclosed country in the Middle East. The time was in my early college years (also sensitive information, though for a different reason).  The goal was to experience another culture while assisting longer term workers in their ministry on college campuses.  It was half way through our trip and it was time to travel to another city to do a little reconnaissance work. Our mission was to “decode” a new campus. In other words we needed to figure out where the campus was (the team before us never found it), how people got in (it was told that foreigners are typically not allowed on campus), if students were living on campus, what subjects were studied there, how big the campus was, and how many students studied there. We also needed to find out the religious climate of the campus, talk to students, find out if there were English speakers there, and try to gauge the overall feel of the campus. At all times we were to pray for God to break through and shine His light in a dark land.

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Let’s be honest for a minute. This past Friday with the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, many people thought the question, "Where is God?” Struck with the raw emotion of having a gunman walk into an elementary school and kill young children, at some point the question of God’s presence crept into people’s thoughts. Many of us are still in shock and horror that such a tragedy could ever occur. And as we come to grips with the scope of what happened, that nagging question will continue to creep into our thoughts until we deal with it and learn the truth.

Years ago, I suffered a personal and very private tragedy. Few people knew of my inner turmoil or the question which continuously plagued my thoughts – “Where was God?” For a long time, I refused to search for the answer because I was afraid of what I would find. Yet this only harmed my relationship with God and stole my peace of mind. Thankfully, God is patient, and He waited for me to ask the question He already knew I was thinking. So for today, let’s bookmark our study on Philippians, and let’s find the answer to the question we often ask when tragedy strikes – “Where is God?”

By Josie Siler

During my first week of Seminary at Columbia International University in South Carolina I was out in the yard talking to one of my new neighbors. All of a sudden I felt a terrible stinging and burning sensation all over my legs. I looked down and I was standing near the largest anthill I had ever seen. My new Southern friend quickly informed the clueless Wisconsin girl that it was no normal anthill I was standing by – I was being attacked by fire ants! I ran into the house stomping my feet in an attempt to rid myself of the ants. My roommates helped me get rid of them as best as they could through their poorly suppressed laughter. After the whole ordeal was over I was brought to my knees in laughter at my foolishness and the thought of what I must have looked like to anyone passing by or looking out their window! I was careful to keep my distance from any and all anthills in the future. (Side note: my memory of this event may be slightly skewed, but how is a girl expected to remember the details of such a traumatic event?!)

Throughout the course of my life I have been brought to my knees in laughter more times that I can count. I have also been brought to my knees in pain, in deep sadness, in worship to God and because of a whole host of other emotions. I am sure the same can be said of you. We have been looking at the Apostle Paul’s life as he wrote to the people of Ephesus. He was in prison and he just got done telling the people of Ephesus that he was in chains because of them, but to not lose heart because of what he is suffering for them. He continues on…

By Jim Davis

“Well aren't you just the cutest thing!” Saul said, giving a pat on the head. “You’re pretty brave for a little guy. Gotta admire your spunk, but no. A shepherd boy can’t fight a giant.”

David was serious, though. He cared about God’s name, and no one in the Israelite army would accept Goliath’s challenge. They were happy to enjoy God’s blessings, but not so eager to fight for Him. David, on the other hand, begged for the privilege.

What in the world would make David think he could be successful? Logic and a healthy sense of self-preservation ought to have kept him well behind the front lines. A reasonable person would let the grown-ups handle it. But the grown-ups weren’t handling it, and David had something the others didn't - a healthy sense of God’s power and provision.

By Josie Siler

This week I have had a horrible time trying to figure out what to write. I have talked to God and asked Him time and time again what He wants me to write to the world of the chronically ill. He has answered me with a deafening silence. Nada. Nothing. Not a word. I sat down to write with no clue what to write. Clueless as to what to do, I did what any writer would do – I did something. I chose the section of scripture I would write about. I read the verses in different translations. I read the introduction to the book of Ephesians. I read a commentary on the section of Ephesians that I’m going to be writing about. Then it happened, all of a sudden, from out of the blue, just when I was least suspecting it, BAM! God smacked me upside the head with a head slap that even Gibbs would be proud of (pardon the NCIS reference.) I realized that I was thinking about this section of Scripture with the wrong people in mind! This week I am writing specifically to you, the wonderful people who faithfully care for those of us who struggle to care for ourselves.

In order to understand where we are going today, we need to understand where we went last week. In the post entitled “Wandering Exile or Dwelling Place of God?” we made the connection of outsiders as the chronically ill and insiders as the healthy people. I want to continue with that thought this week.

“This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you’re familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief (Ephesians 3:1-3, MSG).”

Be honest with me caretakers, have you ever felt as if you are in prison? In the verses above, Paul says that he is ultimately in jail for Christ, but it is because he has taken up the cause of the Gentiles (aka: outsiders). Paul truly was in prison because of the Gentiles. He was arrested in Jerusalem because of his ministry to and with non-Jewish people. He worked with them, he encouraged them, he defended them, and he fought for their rights and equality within the church. If you care for someone who struggles with a chronic illness, you do the same thing! You encourage us, you defend us, you fight for our rights, and you fight for equality for us on multiple levels. All of this care for us and fighting for us doesn’t leave you much time for yourself. I’m sure you must feel like you live in a prison at times.

I want to remind you of a few things. Just like Paul, God has given you this part to play in His plan. Make sure you seek Him first and most. You are not alone and you do not have to do this by yourself. Ask for help when you need it. Make sure you take time to care for yourself. You can’t care for others well if you haven’t cared for yourself well. “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power (Ephesians 3:7, ESV).” God gave Paul grace and power to minister to the Gentiles, and God will give you grace and power to minister to the chronically ill individuals for whom you are caring.

In verses seven through ten Paul writes that he was surprised at the work that God had him do. He was the least of the saints, writing and preaching about things that were over his head. Are you surprised at what God has asked you to do? Did you ever imagine yourself caring for a chronically ill person or an elderly parent? Did you ever imagine all of the miles of red tape you would have to navigate through or the many phone calls and office visits you would have to make? Paul says that “when we trust in him [Christ Jesus], we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go (Ephesians 3:12, MSG).” Amen to that! Next time you go into a government office with 20 pages of paperwork that needs to be dropped off you can walk in there with boldness, knowing that Jesus Christ is with you and that you are not alone!

We have the tendency to put people, say…the Apostle Paul for example, on a pedestal. We see the amazing ways that God used him and we think that God could never use us that way. We have read Paul’s accounts of the ways that God has used him to be a light to the Gentiles; the Gentiles for crying out loud – all of the people in the entire world who are not of Jewish decent. I mean, really, how can we compete with that?! Paul was born to the best family, had the best bloodlines, was as Jewish as you could get; however as we can see in this passage he was a man of humility and kindness. The way he lived his life and the letters he wrote changed more lives than could ever be counted. This is who Paul was, yet he wrote:

“And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!” -Ephesians 8-10, MSG

Paul was just a man. He was a man that suffered greatly. He was a man who was greatly afflicted and close to death many times. He was beaten and shipwrecked, had a “thorn in his side” and spent numerous years in prison. When it comes to caring for someone with a chronic illness, you may be saying to yourself “I’m just a mom, it’s what I do” or “I bring a meal over every once in a while, not big deal” or “I let my employee have a flexible schedule, that’s all” or “I just do a little paperwork for my parents”…. fill in your own blank. Maybe you’re saying “I do it all and I don’t know how much longer I can take it. Whoever you are and whatever you do, God knows. He cares. He has a plan for your life and this plan is not just to care for someone and live in the isolation of a self-made prison. God may have given you someone to care for so that you can “bring out in the open and make plain what God is doing behind the scenes.” Maybe, just maybe, God has allowed you to care for someone who is chronically ill so that you can form a relationship with a nurse you see every week or the pharmacist you pick medications from every week or the person in the department of aging who helps you fill out paperwork or the person in the social security office or the people in the waiting room, or your child’s doctor… These every day, ordinary relationships are opportunities to introduce someone to Jesus, perhaps for the first time. Your routine trip to the clinic could change eternity!

To you, the faithful, loving, over-the-top amazing caretaker, I would like to remind you to keep your eyes open. God has placed you in this position for a reason. Who does He want you to see? On behalf of all of us who are chronically ill, thank you! You are appreciated and you are loved.

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. –Colossians 3:1-2, MSG

© December 3, 2012