Hep C treatment and recovery can feel like the pause button has been put on your life. But each day of Hep C treatment and recovery is a step forward in progress toward the cure and healing. It’s moving up toward new life.

When I did my Hep C treatment in 2012 I had to deal with side effects that sometimes left me feeling unraveled. I was so sick of being sick and tired. Can you relate?

I found concentrating on the step in front of me was the best way to deal with my impatience. I love to accomplish things plus I have workaholic tendencies but Hep C treatment taught me to cool my jets, and be at rest while being out of my comfort zone. Comfort zones are fragile really, only we don’t realize it at the moment.

When I think about comfort zones it reminds me of the passage in Philippians 4:12-13 where Paul is saying, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him (Christ) who gives me strength.”

 

Paul was a man who made a radical shift of stepping out of his comfort zone often, yet he was able to endure and handle it with a strength and outlook that was beyond himself but through Christ. We are no different.

Another great truth, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

To me this is saying, evaluate what is more important. Look beyond the temporary in life. Look to what has true value, something no circumstance or time can erode. For me when I look at my temporary circumstances through God’s way it puts it in a greater perspective. God helps me have just the right amount of peace and contentment I need, tailor made with His name on it. No comfort zone or treasure could be better than that.

For every challenge, every step that is climbed is a daily victory. For every rest stop has a purpose and a victory also. It’s woven together. You can’t do one without the other. Sometimes it takes thinking outside the box, (outside our comfort zones and outside our expectations) to see things from a fresh perspective and find treasure far worth anything we could ever imagine.

Time is precious. It’s not something we can hold on to. It is ever changing. We have to learn to make the most of time and where we’re at. I think contentment comes when we learn to appreciate time differently.

I am reminded of this verse, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:18-19

Challenges with Hep C treatment and recovery can come and require us to step out of our comfort zones, but we can still experience a peaceful spirit and strength that comes through Christ through the journey.  God makes a way for us every day and every day is a NEW DAY!

Thank you God for each step that is climbed and the rest along the way. I can not move forward while looking in the rear view mirror. Help me each day to set my sight on those New Things that you bring each day that are blessings. With you there is only one way, that is UP.

This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C, and is reprinted with permission.