Getting Through the Tough Times:
My personal journey through the pandemic

Devotional #2—Spiritual Medicine

Good morning Fit.Church!

I’m impressed with how quickly I formed new habits in avoiding germs! I have never washed my hands so much in all my life. I’m careful to try to not touch my face, and never realized how I touch my face all the time! When my kids or delivery people arrive, I’m very careful to maintain social distancing and when I do go out I always mask up.

I at times feel like I’ve become an expert at germ evasion!

As a pastor for so long, it no longer surprises me when I find Bible passages that speak to so many subjects including staying healthy and physical recovery. I mentioned in the devotional yesterday that the last year during this pandemic had “kicked my tail” and I was being very transparent. One of the lifelines that has kept me moving forward has been God’s word.

For instance, after Biggest Loser one such passage that jumped off the page at me was,

Proverbs 3:5-8
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.

I realized that there is a relationship between humbly knowing God and physical wellness.
For the last decade, I’ve been sharing how closely God links together spiritual, physical, and emotional health.

Let me take a moment and read just a few of the passages I’m talking about:

Proverbs 14:30
30 A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body;
jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

Proverbs 17:22
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

Norman Cousins, the famous editor of The Saturday Review was diagnosed with “degenerative collagen disease,” and given one chance in 500 to recover. He went to work on researching the biochemistry of human emotions and decided to combine massive doses of vitamin C with what he called, “Laugh Therapy.”

One of his most famous quotes, “Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”
Realize this, the first time I ever had surgery was in 1989 at Cedar Sinai. The few days after surgery that I was in the hospital, I noticed something on the TV in my room. The hospital had a channel dedicated to comedy with everything from The Three Stooges to Gilligan’s Island. It seems the hospital understood that laughter was an aid to recovery

Triple D: Based on my own experience of fighting to move forward this year, join me in…
• Watch less news today. There won’t be any “good reports” there.
• If you’re going to watch something, watch something that will make you laugh.
• Make it your goal to consume at least ten minutes of genuine laughter every day.
• Encourage others to laugh with funny text, videos, and the like.