By HEATHER COFER
I’ve been walking through a season of lots of medical testing lately. I’ve had some different health issues for years, and it is coming to the place when it seems time to try to find some answers.
I have wrestled with how to know when to seek medical help, and when to simply wait and pray. I was talking with my Mom recently about this. She told me when she and my dad were first contemplating becoming missionaries to Mongolia, where there is terrible medical care, they had many people ask them what they would do if something happened to one of their kids. What they had to decide in moving to Mongolia was this: Do we truly trust God with ours and our children’s lives? And they proved by their lives that they did. God had to be their first turn, and sometimes their only turn. She said it built their trust in Him so much, and took their reliance off of earthly means.
This was such a good reminder for me. In a land where medical care is so readily available, it can be very easy to turn to that as the first and foremost solution for any health issue, rather than taking it to the Lord. I’ve felt this particularly with my kids. If they have a temperature or cough or rash, my first instinct is to anxiously grab the Tylenol, essential oils, humidifier, and have the number for the doctor ready just in case. Then I have to stop, take a deep breath, and say, “Lord, I trust You with my children. You have their lives in Your hands, and love them far more than I do. Please give me wisdom and peace as I care for them.”
There are times when I feel the freedom to pursue medical help. And other times I know I need to simply wait on the Lord. But in it all, He has challenged me with this: “Am I always your first turn?”
I know my life is ultimately in His hands. I am thankful for the things that are available to help improve my quality of life. I’m thankful that when something isn’t quite right, I have access to wonderful healthcare and natural means of supplementing my body. But I know that obedience to the Lord might one day mean not having these close by. And I don’t want to wait until then to start trusting Him with my life and the lives of my family. I want to be able to say with Paul, “As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:20-21 ESV)
God has given such wisdom for each situation, and I know He will for you, too, as you seek Him. I’m so thankful I belong to a Creator who knows and loves and cares for me and those I love far more than I can even fathom! He has numbered our days, and I know I can safely leave my life in His all-powerful hands.