>foreword By Rick Postma
Sickness
and the
Great Physician
A few months ago, I returned from a good trip to Guatemala. There is nothing novel in that as I have been on trips to Guatemala something like 12 times over the past 16 years. This time, however, I came back carrying a virus—the Chikungunya virus. I’m thankful to report that I rarely get sick on trips. There was one memorable trip in 2006, I believe, when I picked up a parasite during a visit to a small aldea in the mountains near Cubulco, Guatemala. A few days later, I was very sick indeed. A memorable flight from Quetzaltenango, the second-largest city in Guatemala, to Guatemala City in a Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) airplane was a harrowing experience given how sick I was. But once on the ground, the Lord used John Otten, now our Projects Director but then still running the Cubulco hospital, to consult various doctors, diagnose the problem, and then bring me the medicine prescribed. Once I took the medicine, I went from being unable to stand upright due to nausea, to being ready to play soccer in about two hours’ time. From my perspective, the Lord used John to bring about a seemingly miraculous healing. As I write this, the main symptoms of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus—joint swelling, body rash, fevers—have alleviated. The main symptom remaining is fatigue. Along the way, God has had a lesson in all this for me: The work of the Lord does not depend on Rick Postma. Far from it. I have had to slow down, take regular breaks, and not accomplish as much as I had hoped. But the Lord’s work goes on in accordance with the counsel of His will. In this, I am both humbled and encouraged. I think we can draw a lesson from the sudden healing I experienced some years ago as well. We are all by nature sicker than we can imagine, unable to stand before a holy God. We are all by But God, the Great Physician, has prepared nature a remedy in the atoning blood of His Son, than we Jesus Christ. What a message we have to share far and wide—yes, you are sick, , but there is a remedy! In this issue of the unable to stand magazine, we take you to the Dominican before a Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and . Myanmar where we, through our partners, are sharing that remedy in dependence on the miracle of God’s transforming grace. May countless precious souls be healed so they can stand before a holy God and not cry for the mountains to hide them from His anger, but instead call out to Him, “Abba, Father.” W&D
sicker
can imagine holy God
Rick Postma is the Director of Public Relations for Word & Deed Ministries.
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Word&Deed I
WINTER 2016/17