Johnhwilburn.com

Last Friday after spending some time with young people I came home, and suddenly started feeling weak and sore all over.

Immediately I recognized the problem

I’d come down with the flu!

The flu has been very prevalent here in the last few months. But in recent weeks its grown more because of the rain, that’s followed by hot sun. Those kind of differing temperatures make it easy to develop colds, as well as the flu

My immediate concern on Friday was being able to teach and preach on Sunday. So I focused on resting Saturday, as well as going on meds, and drinking lots of water.

This hard work did the trick because I was able to teach and preach Sunday with strong energy!

But by Sunday night my energy had bottomed out.

Because I expended a lot of energy Sunday, most of Monday was spent in the bed! My hope was the day of rest would give me the energy to get work done on Tuesday in Kingstown.

Thankfully the Lord gave energy on Tuesday to get things done (though I had a ridiculous cold sweat all day)

I woke up Wednesday ready to finally get over my flu

But instead felt like I’d been run over by a truck!!!

Ministry was accomplished, but I definitely wasn’t my usual self. There was no energy or mental clarity.

SO BACK TO BED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

Finally Wednesday evening I had full energy for pretty much the first time since the Friday before.

Last week was incredibly frustrating since I experienced at least two good days (Sunday and Tuesday) followed by two awful days (Monday and Wednesday). This happened because I didn’t allow myself to reach full-strength

For instance days like Saturday gave me enough energy to do well during Church Sunday morning, and speak Sunday night at a lower level of energy. But Monday my whole body felt awful because my strength was not fully back. It would have been much better to give myself two full rest-days (Monday and Tuesday for instance) so my body could have full energy on Wednesday.

All of this teaches me something Gerry important

We all need rest

This is especially true when your sick of course. But in the rhythm of daily life we also need restful activities such as sleep, time with friends, reading, and relaxation that allows us to recharge our batteries. Sadly we don’t make rest a priority till something like sickness forces us to spend most of a day in bed.

I am thankful that the Lord showed me the importance of rest days

Because they make sure you come back completely strong