Gratitde 2 - reflection

Thank God that no major issues came out of the medical procedure and they have now fixed a relatively minor problem in me.

This whole experience brought me to realise a few things:

1. Life is short. We don't know when we will be taken away. Are we doing what God wants us to do at this point in time, or will we regret living our lives when we are on our death-beds? What do we want others to remember us by after we're gone? Should I do more for God? Full time ministry?

2. In this moment of crisis, I realised that my faith may not be as strong as I thought. I even questioned whether God was punishing me for my sins through this incident. This is a wrong perception of God - there may be no basis for adversity in our lives - look at Job. What is important is how we deal with God in times of adversity.

3. Thank God for the support that others have shown me. In times like this, it is very hard to tell people what is happening. Even when I tell people, some people would have no response or an inadequate response, which would upset me even more. There are some instances in life which we must face alone, and others can't really help us. However, the empathy I have received from a few people I greatly appreciated.

4. God has shown me that He was in this with me during this time through different events such as:
(a) my dream two nights before the procedure, where the song "You Rescued Me" was being sung in my dream, an indication that God will rescue me from this (which he did);
(b) the arrival of an email from a friend at a really desperate time where he was able to calm me down with words of encourage and support;
(c) my family arriving back two days before - the presence of people in the house helps to ease my mind off things;
(d) a friend who guessed the exact procedure I was having and told me about his experiences with the same procedure and his evaluation of the expected result, giving me some sort of comfort;
(e) a call on the night before the procedure from a woman who gave me valuable insight and support; and
(f) understanding from people at work allowing me to take time off to help me get my mind off things.