Raising Jeremiah: Illness

Jeremiah is sick for the first time. I am still not sure if it is truly sickness or if it is teething since his top gums are really swollen. Whatever it is he started out yesterday morning with a fever and has been very restless the last two nights.

When I was at the church yesterday, as Jeremiah's fever really increased, I was talking with dear Miss Bess. She was telling me about a sermon she was listening to recently. She said the pastor and his family had 5 little children in the house when he was first called to ministry. They were living on a very small income and did not have insurance for a while. He said they turned to prayer before medication and seeking God's healing before heading to the doctor. Their kids never suffered from anything serious and are all still alive.

My thoughts exactly! Why do we turn to medication, doctors and emergency rooms before asking the Lord to heal? I do not take medication right away, have not been to the doctor (besides having a baby!) in over 15 years and am a pretty healthy person. No, I am not anti-doctor or anti-medicine, but if we desire to be people who live by faith, why do we minimize the power of God? I know what you are thinking, because people tell me all the time, "isn't that putting God to the test?" I'll save that discussion for another day. Many times that statement is just a cop-out for unbelief. We want so desperately to be in control. (Which isn't the case even if you go to the doctor, just saying...)

Well, after leaving the church I stopped at the store to pick up a few things. I tried finding infant fever reducing medicine and every package said it was not for children under 2 years. Jeremiah was getting fussy so I decided to go home, medicine-less, and just let him nap. The fever was not that bad (102) and I decided to just let it run it's course. I asked Joel to stop at Walgreen's on his way home to see if they had infant drops. He arrived home, medicine-less too, because I had his wallet. Ooopppps.

I did not want to give him the medicine anyway!

At dinner we pray that God would heal Jeremiah. We acknowledge that we are not in control and He is. We humbly ask for Him to heal and restore. We ask for wisdom in how to comfort and treat. Then we wait. How simple is that?

Jeremiah did not miraculously get better. That could have happened and maybe another time it will. He still had a fever last night, threw up and was so restless we all got little sleep. He woke up with a reduced fever (Praise the Lord!), but has already thrown up. I continue to pray that he will get better and I am confident he will!

And, he's still pretty happy and playing with his toys, so I think he'll be fine.