This morning I woke up with a sore throat and a weary body.  As the day went on, sore turned to swollen and weariness turned to achiness.  Clearly, this isn’t just because Ava didn’t sleep well, again, last night.  I hate sickness, on so many levels.  I have dragged myself through the day today and as soon as Ava let me put her down for a nap this afternoon, I went down, too.  And when Ava woke up, Tim came and got her and let me continue to sleep (one of the HUGE perks of having a husband who works from home).  I’m not cooking dinner, and I am praying that Ava sleeps tonight, because I don’t think my body can handle more of the sleeplessness it’s gotten this past week.

I hesitate to admit to sickness.  It has been an area of much thought and questioning in my faith.  I see that God made our bodies to respond in certain ways to fend off viruses and bacteria(vomiting, fever, mucous production, etc)…but, there is obviously a point at which viruses and bacteria gain the upper hand for a time…and this is where I feel like it becomes something more than our bodies merely putting up a defense, and where I believe I should be able to stand on God’s promise to heal sickness.  What’s more, I tend to believe that God can strengthen and protect our bodies above and beyond our natural defenses, though I hesitate to claim the position of complete freedom from any weakness or need for the body to fight against sickness…I would be most likely to leave this in the realm of things God gives specific faith for at specific times.

And, in general?  we are a rather healthy lot.  Symptoms of sickness, when they do come, are mostly short-lived and rarely serious enough to take pause.  I think we made it through this winter with only one instance of “Mommy, can I lay down?  I’m tired”…words that never proceed from the mouths of any of my children unless they are really feeling under the weather.  Yes, there have been runny noses and coughs and occasional days filled with the blank stares of a foggy brain, but mostly, we have done our best to stand on God’s Word…to expect Him to heal our bodies when we pray…and He has been faithful.  It still leaves me with this gray area of how much to expect and how quickly to expect it, but I guess I can be okay with gray areas in this, for now.  And I’ll be thankful for the health and healing He does give.