Monday, November 2, 2015

ENDURANCE: Chikungunya (chi-ken-guun-ya)

I will never forget the day that changed my life.  I was sitting in a back pew at my church, totally disgusted with my life.  Every time I tried to fix things, I just made them worse.  Swallowing huge sobs, I bowed my head and had a conversation with God.  I said "God if you want this mess of a life you can have it.  If you think you can do anything with it, its all yours."

It was that moment that changed my life forever.  That moment of complete surrender.  I walked out of church that night a new person and into a new future.  God DID want my mess of a life because he knew he would turn it into something beautiful.

Living this life of surrender has taken me onto the mission field.  Its been 5 yrs of learning, making mistakes, getting back up and pushing forward.  There have been a lot of tears and serious talks with God, but I felt pretty sure I was still, after 5 yrs on the field, living a surrendered life.

Then God showed me what the real deal was...  I had started to take control again.  I had decided what my "missionary life" was going to look like.

I had a lot of reasons and excuses as to why I did this.  I blamed the books I'd read and the qualifications I felt I had.  But God didn't care about my excuses.  He kindly smacked me over the head and showed me that His plans were not my plans.  And that actually my plans were TINY compared to His!

I can't help but feel like that girl again, walking out of church and into a big beautiful future.

"That's why my cup is running over.  This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines."   - John 3:30


Chikungunya


My new perfume
If you go to a travel clinic in the U.S. and tell them you're traveling to Honduras, they'll prescribe Malaria pills. They'll show you a map where you can see that Honduras is saturated with this disease.

I'm not sure where they get their info but Malaria isn't a thing here.  The problem here has always been Dengue and just recently Chikungunya.  There are no vaccines for these diseases.

Mosquitoes seem to be everywhere here.  It doesn't matter if you're in the city or in the mountains, they are always buzzing around your head.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people mosquitoes love.  I can spray myself every night and still end up with a million itchy, bites.  But I was never too concerned because I had never gotten sick.  Maybe I was immune...

I'd been living in Honduras for 4 yrs and had never gotten Dengue.  But then came this mosquito borne epidemic Chikungunya.  The name sounded so ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh when people talked about it.   And I have to admit, I had trouble believing so many people were getting sick from it.

My joint pain supplements
My laughing stopped one night as my whole body began to hurt.  I went to a mirror and saw that I was covered in a red rash.  From that point on it only got worse, until I was bed ridden with a high fever.  Every joint and muscle in my body throbbed with pain.  I couldn't even stand up.

I looked up Chikungunya on the CDC website and it said the mosquito that carries this disease was most commonly found in the daytime, inside and outside homes in urban areas.  They said the fever would end in a week but joint pain could last a couple of weeks.

3 MONTHS of severe joint pain is what really happened.  I was handicapped.  Only now am I finally able to function without a lot of pain.

Needless to say I will never again look at a mosquito the same way.  I will not laugh at funny epidemic names or doubt anyone's illness.  Bug spray has become my new perfume and I spray myself night AND day.  Lesson learned!

When I was bed ridden a good friend sent me this video.  Its how you walk when you have Chikungunya.  It's SO accurate and WAY funnier now that I can walk.



























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