"Only Luke is with me." - Paul to Timothy

I was in the middle of giving an art history lecture, when the slight pain that was in my back became overwhelming and I began to shiver uncontrollably. Everything hurt so badly, and tears started to well up in my eyes. It was so strange being rushed to the ER for a fever. They took my blood for a test and later that night when we got the results I was admitted to Durden's Hospital.

David had been ill too and was resting at home, but the next day he plummeted too, and was rushed and admitted to the hospital as well.

We had rooms directly opposite each other, saline drips, a measuring jar to measure how much water we drank every hour, and one to measure output fluids too.

My dad had to fly to Colombo for work and my mum opted to tag along to get some time with us. It was the last week of January 2017, and we had such a fun time getting encouraged and chilling with them in their hotel. He flew back Sunday, and that Wednesday, February 1st my mum was left with two very sick people. Both David and I had got dengue fever - a painful debilitating mosquito-borne tropical disease, at the exact same time. We were in the hospital for a week, and it was pretty miserable. I lost my apatite, my energy, my mind and felt so helpless. Even after we were discharged, we lay in bed for a week with little to energy to even walk to the next room. In the past week our blood platelet counts had gone from the over 150,000 to less than 30,000 which risked us hemorrhaging out / blood leakage (hence staying hydrated and watching our outputs was essential in case there were leaks in our system, they would know immediately).

It took almost 3 months for me to regain my strength and energy levels (which was basically last month). I was so fatigued those three months though and continued to work 8-5pm...but you know what? I got better. We both got better. Thank you God!

And as dramatic and life-threatening as it was, God was amazing to us through out all of it.

Tell me...

What are the odds for my mum being there when both my husband and I get dengue and is able to look after us in the hospital and after?

What are the odds we both get sick at the same time? (This was also a weird blessing because of the time we got to lie in bed and talk to each other in between recovery naps).

What are the odds that this happened just when I was completely overwhelmed with work and ministry and then all of a sudden - two weeks off, plus everyone was visiting me (especially the Christians whose faith I was concerned about)?

Now mind you, it has taken me some time to get out of my haze of discouragement, loneliness, and just a constant sadness. And this blog is one of the ways I'm refocusing on all the good God has done through the hardships that surrounds us. But I'm able to get better because of the grace shown to me by my God, his word, the Holy Spirit, prayer, my faithful husband who is an incredible man after God's own heart, my parents (who are amazing disciples themselves leading an entire region in Mumbai, a city of 18 million, while working secular jobs. Obviously they're a lot higher on the food chain job-wise which gives them the ability to serve so well), some of my close friends who've stayed in touch with me from across the ocean, and the amazing disciples in the Colombo Christian Church.

These past two years, Paul's letters came to life. A scripture I had held onto the most when I was down was when Paul said, "Only Luke is with me." (2 Tim 4:11) Boy, did I spiral into feelings of utter loneliness and felt like "only David (my darling husband) is with me" - all while giving to everyone else constantly. But Paul was able to go through his lows and come out of it stronger and more in love with God, and that gave me hope. I definitely wasn't going through as much as he did! So there was hope...there is always hope!

Being thankful* amidst all of this, and being discipled to see the good really helped me grow. Philippians 4:8 is a constant scripture in my scripture bank that I recall to help refocus my thoughts on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable... anything excellent or praiseworthy." And that's what I fought/fight to think about.

Furthermore, the good news is, nothing can separate me from the love of my God and savior. Not even when I feel exiled on this island and as though everyone has forgotten about me. I can't lose heart, I can't lose my spirit and zeal that I have out of my love for God and what he has done for me. I can't give in when so many people here don't even believe in any God and are being completely led astray by nonsense.

All of my coworkers, janitors, and students have been know why David and I are here and we've been able to share our faith with most of them.

A lot of them have even studied the Bible already. And even with just that I should be content but I'll save the story of my friend who became a disciple for another post ;) What an answered prayer it was. And she is an absolutely amazing young lady...okay, I'm going to stop there before I divulge too much!

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what us unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

- 2 Cor 4:15-18

A special thank you to you mum. Not just for looking after us when we had dengue, but for being strong emotionally and not letting it bring you down (even though it did inside your heart, you fought to be positive). Thank you dad for letting her stay with us and postponing her ticket to a week later. Thank you to you two also for the cheese slices, peanut butter, yogurt drinks, and mogu mogu.

(All the items that we don't get here or are extremely overpriced since they are all imported from India or abroad).

Thank you to Midley too, for the Welsh's grape jelly (which I've been enjoying so much lately) and the board game Risk - which we play with our ministry and friends.

* 1 Thes 5:18 "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

- little fire



The second picture is of a fisherman in Negombo, Sri Lanka. One of my students took this photo on our study tour.