I should have been hospitalized, and yet somehow two ibuprofen made it all go away.
I was standing outside the school talking with a few students when I felt the first bite on my right foot. I quickly moved out of the way to avoid getting more. I had been eating an orange and walked back into the school to throw it away. I looked down as I was walking back towards my students and realized the front yard was covered in these ants. They had also covered my feet and were having a feeding frenzy.
During my first few weeks down there I was bit and had swelling in my foot. Almost instantly, I knew that these were the exact same ants that caused that last reaction.
Within the hour I had discovered three bites on my face, along with the many on my feet. My boss took me home where I took a cold shower to release some of the heat and discovered hives all over my body. I took two ibuprofen and posted on Facebook, asking for prayer. God showed me over and over what an enormous and amazing support group I have back here in Ohio.
God gave me this marvelous, calming peace throughout this entire situation, which I did not realize until several days later. It very well could have been my saving grace.
About an hour after taking the ibuprofen, I went to check myself in the mirror and was simply amazed. The heat and redness in my face was gone, and most of the swelling was down there. The hives around the rest of my body were almost completely faded. All that was really left was the swelling in my feet. It doesn’t make any sense. Ibuprofen may have helped some with swelling, but it should not have taken away any other symptoms. God truly is the only answer to any of this.
There were so many people concerned for me and praying for me all around the world! That was almost more of a blessing to me than the actual healing itself.
I’m sure you can remember this, and if not you can read about it in earlier posts, God healed me the week before this trip happened. I had burned my hand, pretty severely, exactly a week before going on this adventure to Honduras. I was told I would have to be extremely cautious of infection and that I would most likely have scarring. Less than a week afterwards, my hand looked as if nothing had happened, besides some dead skin. Not possible!
My allergic reaction, mostly likely anaphylactic shock considering the symptoms, was severe. If I had not been as calm as I was, I’m sure it would have been even worse. There was actually one point that I began to get a little panicked and could feel my breathing getting worse, I prayed and felt it return to normal.
This post has been needing written for a while now, because although this healing was physical and visible, it represents so much more.
God did some serious work on my heart and in my life while I was gone. He taught me things that I’m not sure I would have learned without that time. I look back on what I did and the giant leap I took to go down and teach for three months, and I’m simply amazed. There is absolutely no way I could have walked through that without Christ.
My prayer during my last couple weeks of the trip was that the changes in my life and heart would be visible and truly felt by those in Ohio. I have talked to several people, some close and some not, and God definitely answered those prayers.
I have been told several times that others can feel a peace surrounding me, and I have also been told be a few people that they are so glad to see me happy and joyful again.
It makes my heart explode.
I walked through the fire while in Honduras, I mean I dealt with some serious and intense spiritual warfare. I pushed through my past mistakes and hurts and came out on the other end. There were times I couldn’t see a light at the end, but kept moving in complete darkness anyway.
I learned through all of this that God will constantly be moving in you if you allow Him to. If you are seeking Him and pursuing Him, He will be there. Every single time that I felt to weak to make it through the day, He was my strength. Every time that I asked “Why?”, I felt Him gently whisper, “I am”. Both times that I was in desperate places physically, He healed me.
I have never truly questioned God and His power, but after this experience and everything that happened, there is no way I could deny who He is.
So here I stand at the end, victorious. Someday I will read through my journal and be in awe of what God worked in and through me. I’m not finished yet, I have so far to go and so much learning to do. This is just the beginning of the transformation in my life.
Since my trip, God has been working some incredible opportunities around me. He has blessed me far beyond what I could have imagined. I didn’t deserve any of this, and yet He has gratefully blessed me with it.
You can still see most of the bites on my feet, and every so often they sting. I actually panic because it feels as though I’m being bit again. It not only reminds me of God’s healing in that time, but also His work in me the rest of the trip. It’s a reminder of how powerful and great He truly is!
I guess the lesson in all of this is that even when things seem at their worst, or that you can’t catch a break, keep fumbling around in the dark. I promise you that the light will find you. I understand how frustrating, annoying and absolutely disappointing it can be to be in that position.
God is so much bigger than that, though!
He can not only heal your wounds on the outside, but He is a God who works wonders on your heart.
Let Him into that!
Have a blessed day!
-Sadie