As mentioned in an earlier post, the last few days I have been super tired. Yesterday was more of the same, only more so. Not only tired, but aching all over I was feeling really off. I was to speak in the afternoon at a combined home cell group meeting, and I very nearly messaged Adams to ask if I could be excused. But I don’t like letting people down, and I don’t like missing an opportunity to minister, so I went ahead with it.
By the time we got to the house I had a bit of a pain in my side, and it increased through the time of introductions and worship. By the time I was due to speak, it was a constant sharp pain and I was finding it difficult to catch my breath. I preached through the pain with difficulty, but I must have been making faces because one of the ladies, sitting directly opposite me, kept giving me concerned looks.
As soon as I had finished preaching I said, “Now could you please pray for me, I have this terrible pain in my side.” They did, but the pain got worse as we were driving home, and by the time we arrived at Adams’ place I was literally screaming in pain. In my lifetime I have given birth (twice), I have had gallstones, pericarditis and a pulmonary embolism, and this pain was right up there with all of them. I thought I had somehow managed to break a rib.
I quickly had Mary and four very concerned girls around me, trying to offer whatever help they could. Adams called Elder Enock, and he went off to get some medicine. Meanwhile, the girls had me lying down, and eventually I said that I needed to sit up. That helped a bit, and so did asserting strong pressure on the area where the pain was, so by the time he returned I was at least coherent. A needle for the pain, more antibiotics and some other pills, and I was much more comfortable. Also lots more prayer – everyone agreed that this was a direct attack from the enemy.
I woke in the middle of the night in pain, and decided that the best thing I could do was to spend the rest of the night sleeping sitting up it the chair. That helped a bit, but this morning it was getting worse again. So I tried a new form of prayer, going into the courts of heaven. I had read about this but to be honest I had poo-p00ed the idea a bit (and there are still some aspects of it that I don’t agree with) but I was desperate. It worked – instantly the pain eased to almost nothing. I am definitely going to have to check out this form of prayer more closely.
Today I was scheduled to speak to a meeting of pastors and leaders. Adams wanted to cancel it so that I could rest, but I said that I would be ok. As so often happens, the anointing took over and while I was preaching I was not even conscious of my side. This was my second-last meeting for this trip, and I was so happy to be able to do one of the things I love best, pouring into those called to ministry.
