Do you ever have one of those days when everything seems to go wrong? In fact
did you ever have one of those weeks? Or maybe one of those months or even
years when everything goes wrong?
I have had a debilitating disease for 13 years.---steadily losing control of my
body. From the outside, it looks hopeless.
When my wife and I were married and took the vows promising we would be true in
sickness or in health, we did not imagine what that actually meant.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994, my life was turned upside
down. I didn't want to face what multiple sclerosis did and it began
debilitating me immediately, taking me quickly to a cane. However, God had
other plans and He resurrected me through diet and lots of prayers of many
people so I could put away my cane and live more normally for the next four
years.
But, God allowed the disease to come back and now it’s at the point where I am
a dependent.
Where is God?
Has God abandoned me? Is God unable to heal me? Of course not. In fact, He
gives something greater to me than healing---He gives Himself! He gave Himself
for us all through His Son’s death on the cross AND He gives Himself through
the constant presence and indwelling Holy Spirit who is our “Comforter.”
He promises us in His Word in Romans 8 that He will never “leave us or forsake
us.” Nothing can separate us from His love!
“For I am persuaded neither death or life, nor angels or rulers, nor things
present or things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor any other
created thing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.” That’s a promise that we can stand on and trust forever.
When Everything Seems to Go Wrong
This July, I was making great progress with the use of a hyperbaric oxygen
chamber. I was increasing my weightlifting, my swimming strokes, my walking, my
memory was getting better---- everything was improving. The first time in many
years!
But then things began to go more wrong than ever. As I headed to the
chiropractor, a man who wasn't watching in a Mac truck ran into the back of my
mini-van. The truck is owned by a gigantic construction company and they are
now denying liability, claiming I somehow hit the truck!
Our John Deere tractor and rototiller broke down. Our furnace and a/c died and
I fell down from the heat. It cost us $12,000 to replace! Our bathroom water
pipe burst upstairs and flooded the ceiling, and it turns out that our whole
plumbing in our house is faulty and needs to be replaced to the tune of
thousands of dollars!
My one hobby of collecting tropical fish was brought almost to an end that same
month when we woke up to find 25 fish dead due to an imbalance in the water.
Expenses became due for one of my children’s college education. My air
conditioning went out on my minivan, which is necessary for me in the heat, and
cost $1300 to replace. Then my brakes went out which cost $600. I hit a pot
hole, which cost more money.
Where was God now? He was right there giving me the “peace that passes all
understanding” Philippians 4:7 and His sustaining grace. And he used these
crisis to give me the opportunity to share the gospel in full with the plumber,
the 2 pet shop workers who tested my tank water, our neighbor who looked at our
tractor, the furnace installer and more!
From Bad to Worse!
Then, on my way to help my son at Wal-Mart pick up something he had ordered and
was looking forward to, I slipped in the rain off my car door and slammed my
head onto the pavement causing a concussion and extreme dizziness for the next
week and a half.
A week later, I fell at church while standing singing a worship song, into a
sharp chair rail, and it pierced and spread my ribs. I covered my mouth to muffle
my screaming as the church folks near me watched and cried. It caused such
excruciating pain for the next couple of weeks that every time I moved my upper
body to pull myself to stand, sit, lay down, etc. I could hardly bear it---my
mind was on the edge of insanity.
Within a week from that time, I was in the bathroom and fell against the
scooter, hit the controls, went flying into the wall, only to get catapulted
into a wood box. I blackened my eye and scraped my forehead, and messed up my
neck again. But the trouble did not stop there… my passport renewal didn’t come
through so I had to cancel my flight to Canada where I was speaking in
September. I ended up having to drive all the way there (about 11 hours)!
After coming back from a grueling (being up till 2 AM every night for four
nights in a row), although successful trip, I came back to the office only to
stand up in my chair, which rolled back, causing me to fall backwards and hit
my head again. I got blood all over the carpet but I cried out and God kept the
dizziness mostly away. I had to go to the chiropractor about eight times during
that couple of weeks period and once to the emergency room.
Keeping Your Eyes Fixed On Jesus Christ
Through all that time, God hadn't abandoned me---He sustained so I could
working full time, teach government class to 10 home school high schoolers,
teach Bible class to 5 of my children, campaign for godly candidates, go to
church, travel and speak, and survive each day. In fact, even though I've lost
many of the great gains with the hyperbolic oxygen chamber, I’m now finally
starting to regain.
God is teaching me to look at a cup half full, not half empty. That is the
secret to keeping your eyes on Jesus Christ, I believe. We need to look for His
cup of blessing in the midst of the pain.
What is Jesus Christ doing through this? We need to think and ask what
opportunity is He making available to us so that we can glorify Him. We have to
keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and as we do that we begin to see Jesus in all
circumstances. We will be able to say “all things work together for good and to
those who love God and work according to His purpose” and really believe it and
God did that. He promises that He will give us the peace that passes all
understanding, He tells us that as we "keep our eyes fixed on Jesus we run
that race with endurance." He says that we are to "take joy in our
tribulations and trials" and relish the fact that we've been included in
the “fellowship of the suffering”.
The disciples rejoiced when they were beaten in the towns and stoned for the
sake of Christ. Can we do any less?
When we go through times of suffering Satan attacks his hardest. He wants us to
give up, he wants us to wait, he wants us to curse God, he wants to neutralize
us so we focus on our problems.
But we must once again put on the full armor God and securely fasten the
“helmet of salvation” knowing that we are going to heaven and no one can stop
us or “snatch us from His Hand.” We need to mentally and spiritually put on the
“breastplate of righteousness” against the whole world, and certainly against
the bad circumstances that come our way. We must “gird our loins with truth”
and not listen to Satan’s lies to give up and think that we are nothing but a
waste of flesh.
We have to “keep our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel” and “be
ready in and out of season to give a defense and tell of the hope that is
within us.” God makes it so clear: “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet
of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of
good things and proclaims salvation. Who says our God reigns.”
We must hold up “the shield of faith” standing on God’s truth and thereby
deflect Satan’s fiery darts which He is sure to send our way. Finally, we must
wield our sword, the WORD OF GOD, and cut through the trouble, horror, despair
or enemy before us.
Ephesians 6:13-18.
Yes, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, but how do we do this. Let’s
look at a few examples I cited above.
How To Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus Christ
When our plumbing went out and the plumber came out late at night, I had
another opportunity to share the gospel with this stranger and spent a half
hour doing so. He received the Bible and materials I gave him. I did not fix my
eyes on the problem and cost, but on what Jesus was doing in arranging a
meeting!
When I fell and hit my head and got a concussion, I felt like throwing up and
despairing, but instead I prayed began looking for Jesus. So I began speaking
the Word of God verse after verse on my way to the CAT scan room and back to
the despondent nurse. She ended up accepting Christ! God showed me the Divine
missionary trip He set up!
As I fell in my own bathroom and blackened my eye, I learned while I was lying
on my back in great pain to say, “blessed be the name of the Lord, You give and
take away, blessed be Your name.” I found I could say this even though I was
suffering and in pain. I had finally crossed the threshold of learning to
praise God when physically there was nothing to praise Him about----like Paul
and Silas when they praised God "in the midnight hour" chained in
prison after a horrible beating. I praised Him with my heart even though my
feelings were dashed.
As expense after expense came upon us, as our material things broke down from
our car, furnace, to our piping, it gave Him an opportunity to provide and help
us trust Him even more. And one by one, He has helped us to pay for many of the
things in ways that I didn't know could happen. God was having me earn money in
ways I didn't expect.
He held me up through the love of my incredible wife Tracy, faithful son Jesse,
dependable son John and always loving and supporting daughters Bethany, Megan,
Susanna, Charity and Amy.
Yes, God is with us--- Emmanuel. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When
"we humble ourselves, He will lift us up. "And as I came to my wit’s
end in trying to determine how we were going to finance all these calamities,
and how I was going to be able to survive all my falls, when I needed my upper
body to move and every movement for weeks I was in excruciating pain-God
provided.
He rallied me once again. He enabled me to go to New Mexico from Sunday to
Sunday and minister to many and be ministered to. He enabled me to speak and
participate with the homeschool leaders, planning for legislation and do
mediation. He enabled me to make the flight and spend some quality time with a
lot of His people.
He enabled me at the 11th hour to find an 18-year old young man who was able to
drive me to Canada where we saw Niagara Falls on the way and had a great
blessed time of ministry in Canada. He enabled me to spread His Gospel through
many tracts from New Mexico to all the way up to Canada through Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada. He enabled me to share His truth in the
hospital, which was a place I wasn't even planning on going.
There is one set of footprints behind me--and they are not mine--there my
Father God's!
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that He is showing once again that He is REAL and He speaks
loudly from our lives if we will only let Him. He has opportunity for us to be
a witness if we only see it. He asked us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and
not on our problems so we can feel value and worth.
Ask, persevere, endure, and He will open a way. Praise God for His mercies that
know no end.
Maranatha! Maranatha! Come Lord quickly, but in the meantime let us be faithful
to our mission and be good Christian soldiers. Let us never give up. Let us trust
Him and obey. And one day He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
And all along the way He will give us the grace sufficient, and through Him we
can be more than conquerors because it is He who saved us and we can truly do
all things through Christ who strengthens us.
I’m still here and He’s still using me. You can count on Him doing the
same for you no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the trouble, no
matter how difficult it is. God is faithful and He’s true to His Word. Praise
His Holy name!
-Chris Klicka
October 10, 2007
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