I have been recently praying over an obstacle that was obvious in my pursuit of missions, especially in regards to my field school coming up in January. What I didn’t know is how God was going to address the situation at hand. His ways are mysterious, but amazing indeed.
A couple of years back in 2011 I had some back problems surface. My doctor could not figure out what was going on so he sent me to have a sleep study done to see if problems were arising in my sleeping habits. So I went thinking if anything that the worst would just be they still couldn’t figure out what was causing the back problems. I did the test overnight and the next morning I was told some concerns had arisen and they wanted me to stay for more tests during the day. So I stayed and did the tests. After a few days I followed up with the doctor and he said some life-changing news for me. He proceeded to tell me that I had a condition called Narcolepsy. This struck me at first because Narcolepsy is associated with falling asleep at seemingly random times and I never have had this happen to me before nor did it ever happen in the future after this point. However, he then told me that Narcolepsy doesn’t mean you fall asleep at random times but it was evident that I had a big symptom of Narcolepsy called Excessive Daytime Sleepiness which made sense. It pretty much means that no matter how much sleep I get, I’m always tired. So I was put on medication. These meds were stimulants that I would take every morning to help keep me awake and aware. Long-term, these little pills would become a bondage.
Fast-forward to the summer of 2015. I have been dwelling on what I am to do regarding this situation pertaining to field school. This medication cost me $400 a month and the only way to go overseas with this is to get these monthly bottle in advance. This would be a huge extra cost for me every time I want to go to the field. Just to go to Thailand from January-April would cost me $1,600 on top of everything I have to raise for the trip itself. I’m not sure what I was going to do. Then one day while back at home, I forgot to take my medication one morning while I was babysitting my nephews. It wasn’t until far after in the day that I realized I hadn’t taken it. The odd part about the situation though was that I was doing just fine. This was definitely out of the ordinary, because typically when I don’t take my medication I have a hard time not wanting to nap 5 times a day. So given the event that occurred, I called my doctor to set my yearly appointment to a much earlier and sooner date. I talked to him and he suggested some things possibilities but overall said the best thing to do was get another sleep study test done. Except he wanted me to come off my medication two weeks before the test and see how that affected me. This was definitely going to be a leap of faith. I mean coming off my medication for one day was surprising enough but how was I going to survive two weeks?
It turned out to be a time of revelation. Not only was it just possible for me to survive the two weeks without medication, but I was doing fantastic without it. I was happy not to be having to take bondages in the form of a pill. Still not realizing the full extent of what was occurring, I had the sleep study done two weeks later. The best part was lunch. I had free Chinese takeout. Who could complain over free food? They released me and a week later I got the phone call. The results had been analyzed. The tests came back normal and there was no sign of anything. She said the follow up wouldn’t be until December, but to continue on until then as I have been. The results didn’t really hit me until a few days later. I had a sudden realization that I no longer had to put myself under the category of Narcoleptics. I no longer have to raise loads of more money to go overseas. I no longer was bound to a pill. I had been completely healed of the whole thing! It was gone!
They say that miracles are instantaneous and healings are over time. Little had I known that for the past couple of months, God had been healing me day by day as my faith grew without even realizing it. God was good to me even when I wasn’t paying attention. I was so focused on how I was going to get all that medication in advance that I missed what God was actually doing, wiping away the entire situation! The best revelation from it all is that God still works His will in our lives even when we aren’t looking. If we are looking towards a different direction than the direction He is headed, if our hearts are open, He will still come through in His ways which are higher than our ways. (Isaiah 55:8)
One of the church’s issues is that we simply don’t dream big enough. Our vision is typically in the direction of what can we do. We don’t usually believe God for the absolute best outcome in which He is usually more than willing to commit to. My missions director at Christ for the Nations says this quote at least once a week to our class,
If you can see yourself doing it, your vision is still not big enough.
I hope to encourage you that whatever you are believing God for today, take it a step further and believe God for more! If you’re believing for finances, believe God for 50% more than what you were before! If you’re believing for healing in an area of your body, believe God that your entire body would be healthy and not just the one area! If you’re believing God for an opportunity of a lifetime, believe God for 5 opportunities of a lifetime. He is more than willing to come through. He is a faithful God.