I have been quite sick for most of the last week. That made my last few days at work a real struggle, and the drive back north quite a challenge. I had a throat problem that was a constant source of discomfort, and caused coughing, sneezing, or clearing my throat to be quite painful. As I was lying in my hotel room Tuesday night, I was very conscious of the fact that I hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep for the past three days, and had work the next day followed by a 400 mile drive home. My condition continued to deteriorate as it got later, becoming far worse than the previous evenings. It got to the point where my throat was so bad that I was beginning to have trouble breathing. That happened once before, about five years ago, the day of college graduation. (Finals week had been real fun) The fact that they had done very little for me at the hospital on that previous occasion, combined with the fact that I was in no condition to drive myself, pretty much removed the option of seeking further medical care. At that point, I was quite conscious that prayer was about the only thing that was going to be able to help me.
Now I am not one to avoid praying, but I usually hesitate to ask others to pray for me, and I usually try to keep my prayers "reasonable." But this time I didn't just want to "feel better," I needed to be able to breath, not be in pain, clear my lungs, and get some sleep to be rested for my trip the following day. And I needed that all to happen immediately, which is not the position from which I normally approach God.
I decided it was time to buck that trend and show a little more faith. I posted on Facebook asking for prayer, specifically requesting a miracle. Some of my friends wouldn't be fazed by that in the slightest, but for others, well it would raise a few eyebrows. I saw that public post as a significant aspect of my prayer to God. It technically isn't the same as the effect of praying out loud, but it is similar. It demonstrates a faith that God can and will intervene, in a way that makes a statement to others. Plus, it got other people to pray for me as well, and which should be a beneficial thing as well.
So, interestingly enough, a number of things happened directly after that. First, I had no more of the acutely painful symptoms, like coughs and sneezes, for the rest of the night. Within a few minutes I started swallowing, which had the effect of clearing my wind pipe. I swallowed every 3 seconds for the next two hours, but that allowed me to breathe properly. This was not some little subtle change, and while I was still in extreme discomfort, I felt no further "pain." By midnight that issue had passed, my lungs finally felt clear, as well as my ears, sinuses, and nasal passages. But even after all of those symptoms had cleared up, I was still unable to sleep. I was conscious of the changes taking place, both while they were happening and after it was over. I was grateful that God had responded, but I was still concerned about my needed rest. During the following hours, I composed and published my previous post, read, and prayed. Recognizing the significance of my previous post on Facebook, I updated it to acknowledge that I had been experiencing the requested miracle, but was still seeking rest.
What followed was one of the only nights of my life without a moment of sleep. And while many of my symptoms returned by the next day, their severity paled in comparison to their previous state. I spent the first half of the day in the office, followed by an incredibly challenging 10 hour drive north, but I knew I needed to get home in order to give my body a chance to recover. I still have yet to sleep since then without the assistance of NyQuil, a fact that really troubles me, but in all other ways my body seems to be pulling itself together.
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16) After reading a lot about prayer and miracles and faith in the last few months, it has been interesting to observe God’s response in this situation. From one perspective, a rather significant aspect appears to have been totally ignored. On the other hand, I made it back home safely, which was the desired outcome of that request, but at considerable unnecessary hardship and risk. That leads to the question of how much our level of faith effects the responses we receive to our prayers. Did I have less faith that God would grant me rest? It would seem logical that I would have had more faith directly after witnessing the response to the first part of my prayer, but that isn’t always how things work. And the story isn’t over, as I head to off bed in a few minutes. Sleep has been a frequent (but not necessarily constant) challenge for most of my life. I will expand on that larger struggle in my next post.
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