Well, friends, you heard right. I got malaria.

Thank you for all of your prayers- I appreciate that so much, and I’m feeling better every day. I think I’m now well on my way to becoming a true African, which is really exciting.

More importantly, please be praying for the rest of our family here. Lydia, our oldest girl, has been sick pretty consistently for many months. She has been put on an IV again to keep fluids in her system, and she could really use prayer for strength. Kevin also is being treated for pneumonia, so pray for his recovery.

As I was lying in bed last week trying really hard not to throw up the biscuits William kept insisting that I eat, I kept thinking mainly about two things: 1. How much I hate mosquitoes and 2. How good God is.

Because even though God doesn’t always take away our pain, I find so much comfort in the fact that He is right there in the midst of it all. No matter what, He never leaves us and He is always good.

In the gospel of John, before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, scripture says that Jesus saw Mary and the people crying and that He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved. Then, when they took Jesus to see Lazarus’ body, He wept. My Bible has a footnote saying that the Greek word used here for angry is very strong and probably indicates Jesus’ anger against sin’s tyranny and death.

Sickness and death anger God. Sin angers God. The pain that we feel as a result angers God. Because it’s not the way things were created to be. Something along the way broke down and so we experience the repercussions every day.

HIV happens. Malaria happens. Death happens.

Jesus wept with the people as they mourned the death of Lazarus. And He weeps with us still.

That’s the beauty of it all. He never leaves us. Not when we’re facing illness or death or brokenness or loneliness. Max Lucado writes that “Jesus doesn’t give hope by changing the jungle; He restores our hope by giving us Himself. And He has promised to stay until the very end.”

How incredible is that? That GOD who made the universe sits by my bed when I’m sick and mourns with us when we lose someone we love.

If you do one thing today, please tell Him how good He is.