Sickness in Large Families

As most of you can guess, having sickness in a large family looks a bit different than it does when you have just a couple of kids.  It tends to last a lot longer and show itself differently depending on the child.  It is a very trying time and the sickness no matter what it is keeps getting passed from person to person.  Some moments and days I cry in discouragement and at other moments I laugh because all of this is so ridiculous.

Right now we have the stomach flu going through the children.  This isn't your normal stomach bug either.  It is long lasting with each of the children and its been making the youngest ones miserable.  You know, lay on the couch moaning, groaning and whining, miserable?  The kind of sickness that makes you cry because you can't take away their pain and discomfort.  Today we are on day ten of this flu.  As of this morning, five of the kids have had some sort of it.  It is hitting the youngest ones the hardest.  Nate has had it since Saturday and he is still moaning and groaning.

All I can do to survive this is every morning as I wake up I cry out to God, "Help me today!"  I remind myself many times throughout the day that "His Grace is sufficient for me...His power is made perfect in my weakness."  Man, am I weak right now.  That is perfect because that is when He steps in to work, if I let Him.

Two scriptures I have been leaning on today are:

"Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them." Hebrews 7:25

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:3&4

Today the desires of my heart are wellness for my family and protection for me and Steve so we don't get it.  I am so thankful to have Jesus interceding for me.  I get so exhausted I don't even know what to pray or how to pray.  I looked back in my blog archives from a couple of years ago and found two other posts on sickness in large families if you are interested.  Go here and here.