Friday morning I woke up feeling somewhat crummy. Not virus crummy but weak and puny crummy. When I was only able to finish one cup of coffee, I knew my body wasn’t in its normal morning mode. After a few hours of feeling weak and lightheaded, I went through my normal self diagnosis’s and tried to correct everything I thought could be wrong. After my unsuccessful attempts and a few near passing out moments, and a call to my favorite physician, I decided go to the doctor. My doctor ran my through all of the tests I knew she would (sometimes being a PT student has its benefits) and thankfully they were all normal. After talking for awhile, she said, “I want to do one more thing.” She wanted to do an orthostatic blood pressure screen. My symptoms could be a result of orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure with position change) but I wasn’t the typical candidate for this pathology. We were both surprised when my blood pressure did in fact drop with position change. Not an alarming diagnosis but still enough to make me feel crummy for a few days. My doctor advised me to drink TONS of liquids (not coffee either…bummer), increase my salt intake (I am regretting my decision to eat Chinese food for lunch), and rest. When I got out of class yesterday, I wanted to be pampered. When I am sick, I like to be babied and have a “sick bed”. You all know what the sick bed is; it’s when someone who loves you gets your favorite blanket, the softest pillow, and your favorite sick foods (for me it’s ginger ale or Gatorade with a pink straw and popsicles) and sets you up on the couch so you can be a princess while you’re sick. I thought about who would be the lucky candidate for my nurse this time and couldn’t help but think about my papa. The last time I was really sick (I had a strand of swine flu) my papa called and was so concerned that I was alone; he was going to drive to my apartment to take care of me. At the time, my papa was in the last stages of cancer battling a disease way more intense and much more deserving of a sick bed than my flu. But nonetheless he was determined to get to Morgantown so I wasn’t alone. My papa wasn’t focused on himself or his physical limitation and he wasn’t considering that he could catch my flu and become miserably sick; he was focused on me.
This was just one of the many times that my pap reminded me that sacrifice isn’t sacrifice at all when you invest in the life of someone else. I have applied this truth over and over again in my life but tonight I asked myself how many times do I sacrifice for God? Am I willing to look past myself and look beyond personal setbacks in order to invest in God? How many times have we sacrificed for friends, families, charities, and those less fortunate but stopped sacrificing when it came to God? I don’t know about you friends but I never want to put my time, my investments, my gains, my energy, or myself above God. In order to sacrifice for God, we must put our plans, our schedules, and our gains last and God’s first. It’s impossible to sacrifice ourselves without investing in God each and every day. If you aren’t taking time to read the bible, pray, and fast for God then you aren’t taking time to build an intimate relationship with him. Without a relationship with God, you can’t possibly know how you can invest further and sacrifice more for Him. God is the only one worthy of our sacrifices. Today sacrifice the time you spend watching TV to thank Him for all that He has done in your life, sacrifice the money you waste on an expensive dessert or an afternoon latte to invest in your(God’s) church, sacrifice the energy you spend gossiping about people in your town to pray for your family and friends, and spend the extra 20 minutes you spend hitting the snooze button reading your bible. More importantly, sacrifice your plans for yourself or your family to God’s plans and sacrifice your own gains and rewards for God’s gains and rewards. I sacrifice for other people because it makes my heart happy and I sacrifice for God because I love Him so so much. I may not have had my desired “sick bed” this weekend (I did drink Gatorade and lay on my couch) but when I get to heaven, my Lord (and my pap) will have the greatest “sick bed” I’ve ever laid in and I can rest forever and my sacrifices for God will have been worth every effort.
Verse to remember: Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reep the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
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