And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. ~ 1 Cor 12:26
This past week has been an important week for our family. My wife was away last week with our daughter Maggie, and came down with COVID symptoms. We’re not sure where she picked it up, but she did receive a positive PCR test.
I had dodged the bullet, and we kept her quarantined, but after 3 days, I started feeling it too. Then one after another, our girls all got sick. The kids’ sicknesses passed relatively quickly, but Alyssa and I were both down for several days.
Thankfully, we’re getting better, and it appears we’re on our way back to health.
However, this time of sickness for both of us has served to draw attention to the mercies of God in surrounding us with a church family. In our moment of crisis, the church came to our rescue in truly glorious ways.
People brought soup, dinners, pizza, home remedies, groceries, get well cards…even coconut water! We were so kindly treated, and had so much care that we had to turn folks away from serving us! Even though we felt miserable, we were so thankful for the church and its constant care. Above all, the consistent prayers for recovery meant so much!
Paul says in 1 Cor 12:26 that when one member suffers, all the members suffer. I know it can often be difficult to ‘feel’ the suffering of others, but in the body of Christ, the love that we have for one another because of Christ makes us care for each other in this special way. We feel the suffering of those we love in a profound way.
As we recover from COVID over the next few days, and finish up our quarantine, I am so thankful for how clearly it has shown me the profundity of this verse. The church is an organism…a family…a body…and it ‘feels’ for its members. What a sweet blessing to watch this in action!
