Medical Stress

Of all the issues in life, it seems silly that my children's minor medical issues are what so often cause me the most stress. 

We are fortunate to have great doctors and nurses here where we live, and we are grateful to be free from serious medical problems, but I still stress about things like:

- Should I take my child to the clinic? 

- Do I assume it's a virus or might it be an infection that needs treatment?

- Is my child's asthma bad enough right now to need a doctor?

- Can I send them back to school yet?

It seems like all my desires and insecurities are battling together:

* My hatred of making decisions
* My (often hidden) desire for excitement and attention
* My fear of putting people out
* Not wanting to be seen as ridiculous
* Wanting to follow black-and-white rules
* My dislike of staying home with ill children

One thing I know is that I need to get over my fear of getting it wrong.  I have to remind myself regularly that I'm a human and am not all-knowing or all-wise.  It's good to be aware of all my motives, but sometimes I'll think it all through carefully and still get it wrong.  And that's ok.  And if ok with that, I'll spend less energy stressing about the little things.

Gladly Receiving Help

© 2012 Giovana Milanezi, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

The last few weeks seem to have involved a higher level of activity than usual, and we have also experienced a higher number of minor mishaps than we normally do.

At the start of the weekend Andrew had an injured knee and was coming down with a virus; and I had a car with a dead battery that needed replacing.  We also needed to urgently improve security at the house. 

I can find it uncomfortable to accept help from others; but this weekend we weren't in any place to helping ourselves.

I was reminded of the time I first fully accepted that sometimes I need to be the one accepting help, that I can't always expect to be the person doing the helping:

We were preparing to leave our overseas home so that our third baby could be born in the UK.

Preparing to leave and packing away our personal possessions is always hard work.  It's bad enough for organised people, but it presents a particular challenge of those of us who get distracted easily and are organisationally challenged! 

I received offers of help from a couple of friends, which I really appreciated.  Accepting this help wasn't too hard for me because my friends were under no pressure to offer it. 

It was a reminder though that I really do need the body of Christ, and that it can be a very good thing to accept help from others, especially when they are gifted in areas that I'm not.

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12 NLT)

What was really hard was having to ask for help from those who would be inconvenienced by assisting. 

I had an awful time trying to fill in all the paperwork that was required in order to fly after the 32^nd week of pregnancy. Numerous difficulties came up in getting everything approved. 

Two days before we were due to leave the country, after our family had already flown to the capital city to wait for our international flight, I was told that the paperwork had to be filled in again on a different form. 

 

A good friend had to spend her evening printing off various forms so that the doctor could fill them in once more. The doctor, who already had plans for the evening, then had to spent her Friday night re-filling in forms that she'd already filled in earlier that week.  I hated it!  I would willingly have been the person madly rushing around to help someone else in need, but I felt terrible being the person who required others to be put out on my account.

 
So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.  This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. (1 Corinthians 12:22-25 NLT)

When I'm in a place of having less dignity I'm not a hindrance to the body but am just as valued as when I'm strong. What matters is that the body is working well together. 

Instead of seeking primarily to achieve and be helpful, I want to be content to be where I am, doing what I need to do (or not do) in that moment.

We certainly saw the members caring for us this weekend.  Friends helped by donating and installing fence posts and securing our back verandah.  Our neighbours approached us about passing on a car battery that they no longer needed, and which Andrew then used to quickly solve my car issue.  

Tomorrow I'm wanting to get to eight different places in one morning, so I'm certainly grateful for the timing of that battery!  I thank God for how he has met our needs through the people he has placed in our lives.