Three weeks ago I got Shingles for the first time. Before I experienced it personally, I knew very little about the illness. But I have learned a lot, both about it medically, but also lessons God wanted to teach me through the experience. I want to share some of what I learned, partly to process, but also to testify of God's goodness and faithfulness.
Lesson #1: What is Shingles? Why did I get it?
Shingles comes from the same virus as chickenpox. After a person has chickenpox, the varicella zoster virus chooses a nerve in the body to "hang out" in. Then, in about 1/3 of the people who have been blessed with chickenpox, the virus "wakes up" and comes out in the form of Shingles, attacking the nerve which it was lying dormant in. I have heard the most common place to be affected is in your back/torso. But it can be in
any nerve. For me, it was in the nerve that supplies the left side of my face, mostly forehead, but also all the way around my eye. Although there is common thinking that only older people get shingles, I have read that half of the cases of shingles occur in individuals under 60 years old. Although those with a weakened immune system or higher stress are more prone to get shingles, it can just come out for no reason at all! Personally, I think that was the case for me, as I was healthy, and not under
any extra stress than normal.
Lesson #2: Shingles is more than just an itchy, blistery rash.
Before experiencing shingles, I thought it was just a slightly worse case than chickenpox, with an itchy rash. I had chicken pox when I was quite young, so I don't remember much, but I do remember it being itchy and using lots of calamine lotion. Shingles, however, is extremely painful. I believe this is because it's affecting your nerve. Trust me, the phrase: "that's getting on my nerves" will never mean the same for me again. The symptoms in my head mimicked a migraine, but only on the left side of my head. My forehead, left ear and back of my head all experienced shooting pain some days and dull constant pain other days. On the worst days, any loud noise, any sudden noise, anything that startled me (um, I have 2 young boys!!)...would each send a shooting pain through my head. A pain where I had to stop and catch my breath. Often it would also trigger tears immediately, but then the crying would also cause more pain! Seriously, what kind of illness HURTS to CRY?!? I spent a lot of time lying around, trying to relax and not cause any more pain.
Lesson #3: You can get shingles anywhere in the world, so my getting it has nothing to do with where I live.
There are quite a few tropical diseases and illnesses that we experience in our part of the world, which are uncommon in America or the Netherlands. Shingles, however, can and will affect people regardless of where they live. The only thing that makes you "immune" to getting Shingles: having NEVER had chickenpox! (*But a person with Shingles can spread chickenpox to anyone who hasn't had chickenpox before!)
Lesson #4: God's faithfulness to us is NOT dependent on our trust and faith in Him.
I believe that even the ability to trust and have faith is a gift from God. Although we definitely have a part in it and God blesses our feeble steps toward Him, His character and love for us doesn't change based on how well we are believing and trusting in Him.
Psalm 25:6-7
"Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord."
Quite honestly, I did not have the faith and trust in the Lord the whole time that I wish I did. During the height of my illness of shingles, there was fear that the virus might attack my eye. The medical staff said that they did not think it would,
but they prepped me for what to watch for (blurry vision) and told me what emergency procedures we'd have to do if we thought it was affecting my eye (5 hour commercial flight to an eye specialist with likely emergency eye surgery to protect my eye from having a detached retina). Hearing this was a possibility and then waking up to an extremely swollen eye the following day (how can you tell if your vision is blurry when you can barely see??), led to a battle with anxiety. I say "battle", because that is what it feels like to moment-by-moment take your anxiety to God and pray for His direction/peace/healing/protection...and then do it again 5 minutes later when the anxiety rears it's ugly head again. Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This verse has always been one of my favorites, but I learned something new through this illness. Sometimes when we pray and leave our burdens with the Lord, we only have to do it once and our hearts are filled with His peace and we don't have to look back again. But sometimes this is not a one-time thing....we need to keep taking the burden back to the Lord...over and over... And, sometimes, the peace He sends us is through another person/circumstance. In my recent experience, the peace came through an eye doctor and his wife in America. They wrote me and told me that with all of the eye doctor's experience with patients having shingles in their face, they did not believe the virus would attack any other nerves at that point (basically, the nerve(s) effected where already showing themselves and in this case, it did not include my optic nerve). I truly believe that this communication was God's doing--sending me a message of peace to calm my anxious heart. [Side note: If you ever feels God's urge to communicate with someone about something you have expertise/experience with, DO IT!] So, all of this to say, I was not faithful to always trust God, but
He was so, so faithful to me!
Lesson #5: God's timing in everything, including illness, really is perfect!
I had the first symptoms of Shingles on the Saturday before school started for my kids. It was on a Saturday, so my husband was home and able to help. The worst days of the illness were during the first week my kids were in school...and this is the first year of both boys being in school. Initially, I thought this wasn't such great timing, but in hindsight, I was SO wrong! Remember how any noise would cause shooting pain in my head?! Well, without any kids home, I could lie in my bed in QUIET! Amazing timing, God! To top it off, my husband had a planned 10-day trip to another part of our country. The day he left on his trip, I was on my last dose of medication and had improved enough that we both felt peace about him going on the trip. If I had gotten Shingles even one or two days later, I think he might have had to cancel his trip (which turned out to be a very important trip for him: dentist appointments, passport renewed, plus helping 2 families newly arrived to serve here). I am blown away with how
perfect God's timing was in this illness.
Lesson #6: We live in a great community who serves one another!
If you had told me before that someone had Shingles, I have to be honest that I wouldn't have thought that was a big deal. Now I know better! I am so thankful that our community here KNEW better! They graciously provided meals, bought groceries, drove kids to/from school and offered to help with anything. We have been so, so blessed by them. And, to top it off, God has blessed us with family that lives in the same town! My wonderful mother-in-law came and stayed multiple nights with us after my husband left on his trip. What a rich blessing and help!
Psalm 28:6
"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace!"
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| My Progression of Shingles |
