I have spent quite a bit of time throughout the years with our daughter, Kristin, while she has had numerous infusions for some rather serious conditions that she has had for quite a while. Yesterday, I received a notice from FaceBook that it was the four year anniversary of the last infusion that she had before they stopped that method of treatment. It brought back a host of memories of sitting with Kristin for hours at a time as they gave her drugs to improve her quality of life. There were ten infusions in all and I was there for every one of them. It became a father/daughter thing and I like to think that maybe it made the treatments a little easier with me by her side.
Likewise, Janet has dealt with infusions for the past several years as her Rheumatoid Arthritis has become worse. The medical community is always coming out with new things and for the past several years, she has tried several different drugs that had to be administered through infusions. The first trial drug was totally ineffective for her, but this next one seems to be doing the trick, at least for now.
In fact, I am sitting here in the waiting room writing this post as Janet is in the infusion center getting her monthly infusion to carry her through until the end of June. However, something notable happened before she went back. There is always a form to fill out that deals with levels of pain, or anything else that can affect a patient’s quality of life. For the first time that I can ever remember, Janet showed me her report. There were no signs of pain anywhere – NO Pain today… Praise God.
Now that doesn’t mean that she can twist the lids off jars (that’s my job), or cut the sections in her grapefruit (that’s also my job) or turn off the spigot after watering the flowers (my job, too) but to be able to live, even briefly, pain free is something that she hasn’t been able to experience in many years. Before today, Janet can’t even remember the last time that she didn’t have some level of pain. In fact, she quite openly says that she has learned to live with chronic pain – I can’t imagine that every day is another adventure in pain management.
But we have travelled this road together for many years now and one of the many ways that I support her is to just be present. Present at the various doctors’s appointments, doing chores around the house and generally helping her with whatever needs to be done to improve her quality of life. But the infusions have been a game changer for her.
Infusions have saved the day for Kristin and for Janet as well… They are a consistent way to maintain a level of comfort that would otherwise be unattainable. The miracles of modern medicine are evidenced in the better quality of life that Janet has these days. But she must be diligent to stay on schedule.
It occurs to me that we should be the same way when we are talking about our spiritual lives. To be living our best lives, we must constantly welcome infusions of the Holy Spirit and grow our relationship with Jesus. God has provided, among other things, the Bible as a great source of knowledge and information for us to process as we are infused with His Spirit. And just as in the medical community, we must continue to take care of ourselves through diligent, consistent behavior that reflects our dependence on the Lord of the universe – and everything in it. We also have other avenues available to us. We have the counsel of Christian friends, devotions, prayer time, Bible studies and opportunities for service to others. All of these present us with the opportunity to get infusions of the Trinity.
And did you ever realize that once the meds are in your system, they mix in and are no longer separable from our own blood? That is also the case with infusions of the Godhead! The Bible even affirms that once we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we become one with Christ. Our verse for tonight affirms this biblical truth about God. The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, tells us, in 1 Corinthians 6:7, “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” We are no longer able to be separated from Christ.
My encouragement this evening is that just as we take meds to improve our quality of life, the best quality of life that we can attain includes a strong infusion of the Spirit and a commitment to be diligent about growing our relationship with Christ. My prayer is that we, being impossible to separate from God, will continue in our progressive sanctification to become more like Him. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…