From: Dayna & Kevin Avery [mailto:servepraylove@gmail] Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 8:06 AM To: Kevin & Dayna Avery Subject: June 26 11 years ago today, I experienced the worst pain of my life until my body went limp – so weak that I felt paralyzed. My physical life was in question. Dayna held the phone to my ear so I could tell my mom 8,000 miles away that I loved her, in case I didn’t make it. 11 years ago today, while at the hospital in Changchun, China, God showered me with a waterfall of peace. My strength miraculously recovered. Unconvinced that I was truly fine, my Chinese doctor gave me an IV drip of pure calcium and then gave me a remedy of ground-up ox bone. It was chalky. Later, an American doctor said that what happened to me was impossible. (In fact, even later, when I was diagnosed with MS, experts ruled out that what happened to me in China was MS related. They even used the MRI from that day to show the ‘before’ picture of my mind when it was lesion free.) 11 years ago today, God renewed our call to China. And wow, what euphoria. (Dayna suspects they put something in with the calcium, but I think that even if so, that played little part in the euphoria.) The night of June 26, 2002, was one of the best of my life. 3 years ago today, I was exhausted beyond measure. A good friend of mine with MS died that morning as I attended the funeral for one of my other hospice patients. My friend with MS had always wanted to serve in China, but the debilitating disease prevented her. 3 years ago today, because of the fatigue from my own case of MS, I didn’t feel like going anywhere that night. But I forced myself to go to a conference held at my church. After all, I was an associate pastor. I felt obligated to be there. 3 years ago today, a pastor named Victor Plump traveled towards Waco, Texas. On the drive, he told his wife how he really felt that God was going to use him that night to pray for someone’s healing. 3 years ago today, God confronted me with the realization that I was living in fear. In fact, I was worshipping fear more than God – which is horrible – despite the fact I was a pastor and a hospice chaplain. He made it clear that my family’s calling was to be in China, but we weren’t there because of my fear. I had been looking at everything through the lens of my MS, and China was not on my map of possibilities. The MS doctors told me that I could only live in a Western country where MS meds were available. 3 years ago today, I asked for the congregations present to forgive me for living in fear. After all, my fear was affecting them. They were all very gracious and forgiving. I also verbalized a commitment that I was going to trust God. I didn’t know how God was going to work through problems related to insurance and expensive medicine, but I was going to submit to God’s calling for us to be in China. 3 years ago today, I was spiritually renewed. I had some remaining doubt – because I didn’t experience a waterfall of peace like had happened 8 years earlier – but my heavy, albatross of fear was lifted. And although hesitantly, I decided I was going to trust God with my physical well-being, which also included my family’s well-being. 3 years ago today, I unwisely burst into the room where Dayna was and said, “Dayna, I think I’ve been healed from MS tonight, and we’re supposed to move to China for the rest of our lives.” Dayna, who was obviously worn out, just looked at me. I wasn’t sure what her facial expression meant. Finally, she said, “Kevin, I finally just got Hudson to go to sleep. I’m going to bed. We can talk about this tomorrow.” 3 years ago today, I went to sleep without taking my nightly shot of MS medicine. And today, on this June 26, we are in China. I haven’t had another shot since. The only thing I ever take is some vitamins. I’m not in a wheelchair, as my MS nurse practitioner said I’d likely need by this point. I’m not even using a cane. Instead, tonight I was disappointed that I only did 19 pushups with Molly on my back. I do need to sleep better. I’ve been very busy these days … At this moment, I have to get back to either planning for Saturday English classes or Family Retreat preparations or one of my two papers due this week for my online classes. But God is very good. Thank you, JC! And may you all have a blessed June 26! Kevin
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 20:39:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015