At the risk of sounding holier than thou, am going to say it nonetheless. Sickness is good. Sickness is sanctifying. Sickness to me is like a speed breaker.

By the grace of God, I do not have a life-threatening condition and I am not trying to belittle the pain and suffering of those who may be in anguish because of such an illness, my prayers are with them. I am only talking about the common kind – fevers, colds, and infections. Born premature with not so much of a robust immunity system, having a hypersensitive trachea (I catch a cold at the blow of a morning breeze), sheepishly accident prone, having endured multiple spells of severe fever and always experiencing mind-numbing menstrual cramps, I think I know how being sick can take a toll on your mind and body. In most cases it leaves you weak, stressed, discouraged, in pain and resentful.

Sickness breaks you. Your pride is shattered, your power lost, you cannot be independent or indifferent, you become dependent for even sitting up or lying down. Your heart feels fluid and supple and much to this irony of how helpless, hopeless and lonely I feel, they have been some of my finest moments and my personal favorites. It’s because only in that state of powerlessness, have I experienced God’s love intimately and witnessed the invincible strength of God. At the end of my strength, God’s inexhaustible grace begins. It’s bittersweet but its a foretaste of heaven. Of course, you cannot experience any of this if you pop a pill at the drop of a hat.

You know when iron needs to be welded, it is heated to a particular temperature to make it ductile to carve it in the desired shape. Even so, sickness enables our heart and mind to become broken and contrite (the way God desires) to receive the goodness and mercy of God. You need to empty your heart and come stripped down before your Maker to experience His abundance.

I wouldn’t say I enjoy being sick, but it sure makes me resilient. Besides, I get to experience God’s tenderness and compassion ever so closely and for that, I’d give up anything.