Sick, frankly.

Really, I try not to overwhelm you with posts about health issues here at Finding direction.  But let’s face it – so far 2011 has been a year of such challenges, and it’s only just begin.

You remember, we started out the year with Shari sick and Nathanael having bandages changed every day (due to an important but missing part of his finger…).

Now as most of you know, I’m never exactly in the peak of health.  I have chronic migraine, a neurological disease which makes our unpredictable lives… well, more unpredictable.  Never a day goes by without one interesting symptom or another.

There are great treatments for migraine – more than one person could ever try in a lifetime.  But treatments often mean that things get worse before they get better.  And finding the right treatment for you can take months to years.

Well, right now I’m being treated by an excellent neurologist in the city of Puebla.  But some recent treatments have made unpredictable symptoms quickly increase and become even more unpredictable.

I rarely write about migraine attacks, partly because they’ve been a part of my life for so many years and they’re not unusual to me.  I imagine that, if I was healthy and one just came out of the blue, I’d be talking about it for months.  Take for example this past Wednesday.  I almost couldn’t walk.  I managed to go a few steps from the bed to the bathroom (thanks to the support of the walls), but that’s about it.  For someone who can’t hardly sit through a one hour meeting, being in bed all night, then all day, then all night, is… quite something.

The month of February has been something else.  I "lose" hour after hour, day after day, because I’m sick.  And it’s been quite a few days since I’ve had more than a minute or two of "feeling good".

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not sad or depressed at the moment.  Again, although this has been a worse than usual month, these are things that I’ve lived with most of my life.  And just because I’m not "feeling good" physically doesn’t mean I’m not feeling great on the inside.

And although I’m behind, I’ve still managed to accomplish a lot this month.

But if this is a blog about our lives and ministry here, I might as well mention challenges like these that we deal with.  And this is one that’s current.

Today I’m pretty shaky, and sick to my stomach, and have some pain.  But I’m managing to do some preparation for tomorrow.  And I’m working on some letters, my keyboard class (Monday), and my study (Tuesday).  One step at a time.

In the end, I’m blessed beyond belief.  And besides, these challenges are only temporary.  So let’s keep looking at the big picture – the eternal picture – without ignoring the realities of today, the frailty of humanity, and the unstoppable purpose of God.