WEDNESDAY
by Ronnie Beesley
Good morning, everyone. I hope this day finds you all well. Today I would like to share with you a small part of my recent journey with my health and walk with God. Before I dive into the meat of my situation, I would like to share a little background of where I was in my walk before this series of unfortunate events began.
For many years I worked at Lavelle Industries here in Burlington as a Production Manager. I met the love of my life at church nearly 20 years ago. We married quickly, and in a few years started our own little family that is now completed with my 13-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. We walked with God and served the best we could. We were blessed beyond anything we could have ever deserved.
Everything changed about four years ago. I started to get ill. At first it was small, unusual things like my eyes would burn for no apparent reason to the point I could not open them without great pain. My legs would become very weak suddenly, some days to the point it was hard to do my job effectively.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. My symptoms kept expanding and intensifying to the point I was put on temporary leave. The doctors, while great, did not have much to offer, yet, as they could not figure out what was going on. However, the Lord was with me.
As we continued to try to figure out what was going on with my health, my spiritual life was growing. As I spent more time in prayer and praising the Lord for who He is and all He has done for me, my peace grew. It is so very hard for me to put in words the joy and the peace that one can know when you give all you all have left to Him.
About two years into this trial, I was finally diagnosed with a rare neurological condition that was causing all my many symptom. Praise God! Once receiving the diagnosis, I was referred to the teaching hospital to be seen by their neurological team. This was great news. If nothing else, we now at least could understand what was happening and what to expect going forward.
During all that time while dealing with my condition, my prayer life grew. My walk with Christ grew stronger, even as I grew physically weaker. I felt and continued to feel a deep and abiding peace from Christ’s Word in my life. I can feel a strong presence of Christ in my life through the darkest of days and it is His light that leads me on.
Finally, my appointment came with the specialist. After a lengthy review of my medical files and physical testing, he gave me his final opinion. I was told that there is no cure for what I have. It will likely continue to progress to a state that I would need hands-on care at some point in the future, and while not often fatal, it can be if it progresses far enough. He was kind and gentle as he shared the news with me, as he too was a man of God. His final words regarding my condition to me were, “It is between you and God now.”
As you can probably imagine, this was quite a hard thing to hear and begin to comprehend and to come to terms with. I retreated into the Word and into my prayer life, turning to Christ to find guidance and understanding. Leaning on Him to make sense of the world was and is my only hope. As I spent time in deep contemplation of the Word and in prayer, I could not shake the feeling that I was beginning to understand what I was being called to do.
The Word teaches us that there will be suffering and heartache in this life. As such, we should not expect to be immune from it just because we are faithful Christians. Rather, it reveals our need to lean on Christ in times of deep struggles and sorrow and not only endure through the moment, but endure with the Joy of Christ in our hearts. To show His light to the world, when the world thinks our light should be put out.
I may no longer have a career or my physical health, but with Jesus as my Lord and Savior I can humbly proclaim that my body may be broken, but my soul is well. I will endure this life with great joy and peace only made possible through the unmerited grace of God given to me. Praise God!