Flee the Flu

By Jacqueline Overpeck,
Guest Columnist

CBN.com – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza is on the rise. In the past few weeks, eight states reported widespread flu activity: Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.

At the Good Shepherd Episcopal School in north Dallas, classes came to a halt due to a flu-like outbreak. One hundred students and teachers out of the 600 students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade classes were out sick. Hopeful the symptoms will subside, the headmaster made a decision to close the school’s doors through the end of the week.¹

Many of us, just like those at Good Shepherd, have experienced poor health during the winter months. The highly contagious flu leaves infection and a disappointing diagnosis in its wake. Though it’s not pleasurable to recollect the suffering brought on by this menacing virus, let’s go there for just a moment.

Why subject ourselves to the pain? To see how God’s healing touch can bring about recovery and make a difference!

The Flu and You: Act One
The flu goes something like this: You’re totally miserable. You’re chilly, then hot, then chilly again. You’ve got a fever that’s pushing 101 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Your muscles ache. You are tired, nauseous, and your head is pounding. A pile of Kleenex higher than Mount Fuji is rising beside your couch. And, despite Kleenex’s popular new “Let it Out” ad campaign, all you want is for your spouse to figure it out—you’re sick!

Your limp body lays strewn across sofa. You hear your family stirring in the kitchen. They’re looking for something Italian to eat. They ask you what’s for dinner. You yell from the living room, managing to scratch out a few words that are only loud enough for a mouse to hear. “I’m not cooking lasagna tonight—or anything else for that matter!”

The mere thought of red sauce and ricotta cheese sends you running to the loo—a place you’ve undergone greater hardship than the children of Israel as pestilence befell Egypt. You slump, your head hangs, and you feel too weak to cry. Nonetheless you hold out faith, thinking that if God saved the Israelites out of the land of their sorrow, there must be some relief coming your way too!

You listlessly slide across the hardwood floor in your favorite socks, noticing that someone sprayed the sofa down with Lysol disinfectant while you were gone. You gag, grab your throat, and wince. Where is genuine sympathy and service when you need it most?

You daydream of having a bell to ring to beckon the attention of your busy family to your bedside. You imagine their compassionate words: “Can I get you more cough drops?” “How about some cold ginger ale with chipped ice?” “I can rent a DVD for you to watch if you’d like.”

Instead, your family fears an outbreak, and they disappear. They won’t come within ten miles of you. Your teenage son teases, labeling you “The Sickling” and makes sci-fi noises as he passes the couch. Maybe he’s right, you think. I have turned into a hybrid-human virus head. Even the dog scourges you.

As you lay suffering in quarantine, your mood goes south. You mumble to yourself. “What’s wrong with that ionic breeze purifier? It was supposed to remove bacteria from the air, zapping it out like a wi-fi mosquito killer.”

Does all of this sound familiar? The good news is that when sickness affects you or a loved one, there is help in Christ Jesus.

A Prescription Worth Reading
What should you do when the flu gets you? Not much at first. Just see your doctor and rest. Then after a few days, when you are finally able to sit up and hold a book, try reaching for the Bible. It’s filled with healing promises, just like these²:

“I am the LORD who heals you” (Exodus 15:26b).
“Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled” (Psalm 6:2).
“O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me” (Psalm 30:2).
“He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 107:20).
“My son, give attention to my words … for they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20,22).
“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23).
“And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Healing in Jesus
There is great hope and glorious health in Jesus today! The Lord created you. When something feels broken, He knows how to put you back together again.

Isaiah 53:4-5 encourages: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed His stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed.”

For key facts about the flu, see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NOTES

¹ Dallas/Fort Worth, NBC 5.

² All verses taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible.

Jacqueline Overpeck is a freelance writer and works full time as Web Content Editor for Benny Hinn Ministries. She and her husband, Arnold, are both CLASS (Christian Leaders, Authors, and Speakers Services) graduates. They enjoy the outdoors and traveling in their spare time with their Maltese dog, Coconut. Visit Jacqueline at www.JacquelineOverpeck.com.