In Sickness and in Health

This week I was pretty sick. That is not much of a surprise to anyone who knows me because I get sick quite often, especially when I am going through a transition. And coming home from a mission is definitely a transition. I don't know if any of you have ever experienced this, but when I get sick life seems to get even harder, and it can make a difficult but doable situation seem impossible. That was the case for me this week. Adjusting was difficult, but I was handling it well. Then I got sick. Suddenly it felt like the world was ending because I could not only not do everything perfect, I couldn't do anything. It kind of makes me feel more understanding of all the people on the street in Austria that I met on my mission who, when asked what in the world was most important to them, answered health. While I still don't believe that it is the MOST important thing in the world, it does make doing things a lot easier. And that it something we do not understand until we are sick.

One of my friends really helped me this week when I was freaking out. He just simply said, "Don't worry, you're still in God's hands." It made me realize that I had been putting a partition between my life at home and my life on the mission, and thinking that I only deserved to have such a close relationship with my Father in Heaven when I was a missionary. That is simply not true. I am still in His Hands and He still cares about me just as much as before. The person who was with me throughout my entire mission and my entire life is still there. This was especially helpful to remember lying sick in bed this week--that I wasn't alone.

I love the analogy throughout the Old Testament that our relationship with Jesus Christ as a church is like that of a husband and wife. A marriage is a covenant made because of love, like the covenant that Christ made with us, and the promises are similar. We promise to remember Jesus Christ through all moments in our lives, the good and the bad. It reminds me of the traditional wedding promises where the spouses promise to be true each other "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health." Like that, our relationship with Jesus Christ is not dependent on our situation or actions. It doesn't matter if we are missionaries, or just members, if we are sick, or completely healthy. And He will be completely true to us; unfaithfulness will come from our part when we forget to always remember Him. We can always return, and He will be there, ready to welcome us back.