Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible?

We have recently received two emails which caused me to think again about this topic.

Both were from Christian friends (one here and one overseas) and in a context that desired to encourage us and assure us of prayer, but included an inference....that illness and effective ministry were incompatible.

They said "Without good health it is pretty much impossible to work effectively." 

and

"Maybe you need to think about staying in Australia for a while until you are both fully recovered. I find Botswana difficult enough when well and it would be impossible for me to work here if I was sick..."

Now without a doubt, let there be no confusion about our perspective on this, life is a lot more 'easy' when a person is well!!!  These last weeks with my POTS and Andrew developing Pericarditis, in our human-ness we sure wish we were both at full health and strength, and from our human perspective it is easy to feel that ministry is being hampered by our current limitations. ....and we certainly do pray that within God's will, that he would bring us healing and enabling to be giving our full energies to particular aspects of ministry once again.  We don't have to think twice on that!

However, as we discussed these comments, it only took a moment to realise that a great part of our ministry here, since the beginning, has been in the midst of illness and disability of various kinds.  Very, very little of our time here as been 'smooth' and many bumps in the road have often been health related.  I also began to be reminded that while these comments from dear friends were said in love for us, I believe there are several reasons why God would have me view my circumstances differently....

Reason 1

We had hardly first arrived in Botswana when Andrew broke and dislocated his elbow which resulted in many weeks of pain, limitations and physiotherapy which completely 'disrupted' and curtailed all the mission's plans for our first 6 months of orientation and language/culture learning. (but they were the same disruptions that made the way possible as it had not been before, for me to be able to attend my only sibling's wedding!)

In fact these emails prompted me to actually list down all the significant illnesses/disabilities/injuries we have had between us since arriving in Botswana and I was actually shocked.  (And it didn't take into account various 'runny tummy bugs', migraines, flu, and allergy problems and various other minor issues.)

Yes, life in Bots is tough enough without physical weakness/illness as well, but its kind of like God has 'trained' us from the beginning to cope with being 'less than fully fit' in Botswana.  

- Andrew's been hospitalised twice, 

- got facial, hand and inhalation gas burns while catering for an event at church, 

- spent several months mostly in a wheelchair when a tibia stress fracture refused to heal, 

- he's had pneumonia, 

- had months of complications from a nerve block in his arm (used instead of an anaesthetic in a surgical procedure) with his arm in a sling

- And then there was the severe Arrhythmia that has plagued him the last 6 months (with pain and exhaustion) - the Doc was amazed he hadn't had  a heart attack by the time he saw him. 

- Since we have been here, he's been diagnosed with NCS, seriously low BP, and Klinefelter Syndrome

- and now the many weeks of weakness/recovery from Pericarditis

then...

- I've had some serious flues/ lung infections on the brink of Pneumonia, and developed Chronic Bronchitis, 

- had Salmonella, 

- tore a shoulder ligament

- had a year of a frozen shoulder

- and now Dysautonomia/POTS for the past 3.5 years keeping me mostly horizontal and using a recliner wheelchair for out-and-about mobility

...we never thought we would both be regular patients of a Cardiologist before we were 50!  

(But even in that, God has been so gracious and faithful to provide us with such a great cardiologist, so close and much more cheaply than if we had been in OZ.)  

Now we are not saying that our ailments are any worse than anyone else's but, it is a very real reminder that the thought that we need to be healthy for God to use us and for ministry to happen successfully, may not align with God's idea of success.....and if we needed to go home to Australia to recover, every time we had a 'serious' health issue, we would virtually never be in the place of ministry God had placed us!

Read on in Part 2 and Part 3 of more reasons as I consider this issue......