In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
- Isaiah 38:1-6
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.
- Psalm 41:3
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
- Matthew 4:23-24
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
- 1 Timothy 5:23
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life.
In her leaving, she said someone would come. I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived. While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.
This Week’s Question
Last week Babs found a friend in Eleanor, from church. But this week, she wasn’t feeling well.
She had not set up a doctor, so we went to see Dr. Melanie Torme. We commented on the Mel Torme music over her intercom system, and she gave both of us a coupon for a latte across the hall on the ground floor of the Dala Enterprises building. It was her little joke that her younger patients never understood.
But Dr. Mel was unsure as to what was wrong with Babs. She ordered tests and I recognized many of the tests. My wife had those tests with her illness. Dr. Mel said that she was being cautious. Most likely, it was nothing, but she just wanted to make sure.
I nearly cried. I said, “I can’t go through this again, Dr. Torme. My wife passed away about two years ago. Please, this has to be something else.”
Mel said, “I know you are a man of faith. Pray. I am less than ten percent on this being something bad, but the tests will tell me. And I thought she was your upstairs tenant. You make your plea as if she was more than that.”
I was taken aback. I shook my head. “We are not romantically linked in any way, but we have taken walks together. We work together at food banks. We go to church together. She and I have Bible studies together, but that is the extent of it.”
Mel reached out and held my hand. She smiled and winked. “I hear what you are saying, and I see what you are not saying. I tell you what. I will be praying for a negative result, too.”
When we got home, I suggested a Bible study about healing. Babs was a bit worried about the tests, too. She gladly agreed to the topic.
I decided to start on a positive note. “Hezekiah became ill. He wept and prayed to God. God gave him fifteen more years as a result of Hezekiah humbling himself before God, and asking for healing.”
Babs replied, “I have been praying, but maybe I didn’t do it right.”
I smiled, “There are no magic words that can be said. But look at Hezekiah. He cried. He acknowledged that God was the source of healing. He reminded God that he was faithful to God with wholehearted devotion. So, there was faithfulness, along with proof of faithfulness. There was Hezekiah’s attitude. Hezekiah did not demand.”
Babs swallowed hard. “So, do I humble myself before God and beg? And this whole illness thing simply goes away?”
I sighed, “Babs, it is not that easy. We all get trials in our life. Hezekiah got this trial, and he humbled himself. Then, God healed him. But other people get an illness and die quickly. Other people get an illness, and they remain alive much longer than expected. My wife was one of those. I was her caregiver, and she traveled the country with me. Her illness challenged her faith and my faith. The young Babs, appearing when she did, filled a void that was monumental. But my wife praised God until the end when it seemed she saw heaven and her face shown with God’s glory. In my part of that test, I kept asking God, ‘why,’ but God is my Lord and master. Sometimes, I think that I know why, but He has all of this in his plan. Then, you show up. If it is God’s will to put me through the same test, I can physically handle it, but can I handle it emotionally? As for you, I think you have shown yourself to be a humble servant. If you are really ill, will you curse God or glorify God? It is all about how we respond to the trial. That response emanates from your heart. It is virtually impossible to fake a proper response, at least not for long. If your heart is not right with God, your true feelings will show.”
Babs sniffled, “I must admit that I am scared, but how can I be angry at God? I lived such a licentious life. I deserved a hundred deadly diseases long before now. But now that I have dedicated my life to Jesus, I get a disease that has nothing to do with my old lifestyle.”
I corrected her, “You forget what Dr. Mel said. She gives it only a ten percent chance of being bad news. In Psalm 41, God will sustain us even on our sickbed, but God is the great healer. Jesus healed many people. But Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine to help with a digestive issue.”
Babs scrunched her nose. “You are piling on with the Bible verses there. But I get what you are saying. Whether I am ill or not, healed or not, God is with me. But God is the great healer. Then a double ‘but.’ God is the great healer, but I have to take my medicine, if they are prescribed, and eat right and take care of myself. So, getting better is up to God, but I must take my health more seriously. To be honest, while I was hiding in that assisted living home, hoping no one recognized me, I was miserable. I had no interest in all at living a healthy lifestyle. That is, until I started dreaming about you and the younger me, the young Babs. I owe all that to God who gave me those dreams. He let me know that I have worth, and I have a reason to keep living.”
I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She shrunk back. She asked, “Harold, are you ready for our relationship to change?”
I shrugged, “Dr. Mel hinted that I already felt fondness toward you. That kiss was a test for more than just me. You were a bit shocked, and you did not jump at the signal to take it further. I liked your response, and I did not feel guilty when I kissed you. Let us leave it at that. There is a spark that says that this relationship, however it turns out, is something that we might both be interested in.”
She giggled. She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. She confessed, “I jumped away, but not because I did not like it.” We gave each other along embrace. If you were counting ‘Mississippis’, you’d get bored and lose count.
To not leave anyone in suspense, the tests were scheduled, and they all came back negative for anything serious. She was given a prescription for some medicine, but even then, Dr. Torme thought she would recover in full health in a month. The prescription had no refills.
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
I know full well about seeing a doctor and then fearing the worst. The old joke about doing a CT scan of your brain and not finding anything was played on me when I was thirty-five (meaning not finding a brain…), but having to have such a test at that early age was not fun. Then, at forty years old, my wife developed type 2 diabetes. She was a mommy, and her passion was making sure the family had good food to eat. She also had experienced going to bed hungry in her youth, and dieting was too much like that. She would go on a diet, but she would cheat. The secondary aspects of diabetes were the problem. The heart murmur she had since being a teenager finally required open-heart surgery. Then her kidneys failed. Her thyroid and parathyroid started acting up. Her thyroid stormed some and then slowed down, finally barely and rarely functioning. The parathyroid worked overtime. She had plenty of calcium, but the parathyroid kept taking calcium from the bones to overload the kidneys. I was laid off just before all this became a medical issue. If I had not “retired” I would not have been available to be a fulltime caregiver. Some weeks we were in doctor’s offices or physical therapy more than we were at home. And with all her issues, her mental capacity started showing signs of deterioration.
In a way, this story is dedicated to all those who suffer, mostly in silence, from dreadful illnesses, and to the caregivers who are bone tired, but act as if they work tirelessly.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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