Poison Ivy. For any one who has ever suffered from a bad case of it, enough said, right?! This was a souvenir from Alabama that I can simply not get rid of. Most of my childhood was spent adventuring in the woods - building tree houses, riding four wheelers, picking berries, camping, hiking, etc. I have never gotten poison ivy even when I was very much exposed to it. I didn’t find out until after the mission trip to Alabama that the string of poison ivy in the south is different that what we have in the north. Therefore, immunity to the northern ivy doesn’t count when you’re in the south. Randy’s showed up right away, his hand being the worst of it, blistering and sore. One morning I noticed a small blister on my arm that began to itch. I was impressed and actually said to Randy “I have it! I feel like I accomplished something, I actually can get poison ivy after all!” I had no idea what was in store for me. Not feeling too much other than an occasional irritating itch, I decided to not use the medicine we had bought for Randy’s. My logic at the time was that his condition was full blown red, blistering, and miserable so no sense in wasting the ointment on myself. Clearly this sacrifice was the wrong one to make! A few days later the redness spread down my arm and the welts began appearing. It went onto my other arm almost immediately. Before I knew it, my ankles were getting red bumps and itching terribly. Along with the medicine I was also taking Benadryl at night. I continued this for a few days as the rash got worse. Eventually I determined (wrong again) that the Benadryl wasn’t doing anything but knocking me out and I simply did not have time to sleep. Two days after I quit taking it my skin lit up like a light-bright. Red dots forming new rashes began showing up everywhere. I obviously made the wrong choice yet again. I got more medicine and even tried some herbal ointment. Some things help but minimally. I keep thinking surely one day I will wake up and it will all be gone but that hasn’t happened yet. Although, the rashes that started out on my arms are almost completely healed over. I have determined that the only thing I can do is wait it out. Surely it can’t last forever. I’ve been treating it as best as possible and hoping for a miracle.
The other day I sat on the couch in misery over the irritating itch that I could not scratch and the pain that it caused. I decided in that moment that surely there was a lesson to be learned in all of this. I determined that there was simply no way I was going to suffer like this and not learn something profound from it. I was trying to look for a bright side. Since I’m writing this entry you probably already know that I have began to see a few hints of what one may learn from this. Nothing profound yet but I think if applied correctly, one could gain some insight.
Some itches are not meant to be scratched. No matter how much we may want to dig in our nails and feel that temporary relief, it will only cause us more pain in the end. No matter how good it feels at the time, tomorrow you will painfully regret it. “Quit itching!” - the famous words of my husband and son the past few weeks!
Some problems or situations we find ourselves in only have one solution - wait it out. We must do what we can, as little as it may seem, and wait for the storm to pass.
Even a little “blister” can turn into a full scale problem if we don’t take care of it right away. It is so important that we guard against any signs of a problem. Just as I should have applied the ivy ointment right away, we need to apply the “spiritual ointment” to any signs of a “blister” in our life.
It will not last forever. At this point I’m simply holding onto the fact that I will not have the poison ivy the rest of my life. One day, it will be gone. Even our problems that seem so surmounting and unbearable will not last forever if our hope is in the right place (in God’s will and in His hands). If we put our trust in Him, He will deliver us from all suffering.
I could elaborate on each of these but I choose not to. I believe that if you feel any or all are speaking to you then you will be able to apply it to your situation(s) very easily. Keep your guard up and focus on our Lord, you can’t go wrong! He is the true Healer!
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