MY EXPERIENCE WITH COVID-19
This post is written by Pastor Olavo Vigil, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Pelotas (RS) Brazil
“It is good to learn wisdom in the school of pain” – Ésquilo
After ten days of being admitted to the hospital and then some more days of rest and physical therapy at home, I got to enjoy a good recovery. I thank the Lord Jesus, the prayers of his people, and the excellent team of healthcare professionals at the hospital for the care they extended to me in my recovery. I would like to share what I learned and experienced during my time in the hospital by focusing on three words: vulnerability, opportunity, and gratitude.
Vulnerability (2 Corinthians 11:23-27) – The Apostle Paul was one of the biggest icons of Christianity. He was a powerful man used by the Lord Jesus for the expansion of the church. Although Paul dedicated his life to the ministry, he was not spared from setbacks along the way.
The Christian faith is not some sealed metal container into which problems can never penetrate. Although we believe in Jesus, we are subject to all of life’s difficulties. COVID-19 has shown us how vulnerable we are. This is a universal condition. Regardless of one’s religion, race, or social class, we are all subject to contracting the virus.
I was admitted for ten days in the hospital in order to recover from COVID-19. There were also other healthcare workers admitted as COVID-19 patients there with me, including doctors, nurses, technicians, and even a perfusionist. Doctors have offered us guidelines on how not to contract COVID-19 and help those infected in their recovery, but even they are subject to getting infected.
COVID-19 shows us how fragile and vulnerable we are. It is the result of the fall of man in Eden (Gen 3). When we confess that Jesus is our Savior and Lord, we receive eternal life with God, but we still remain vulnerable to all the pain of this fallen world.
Opportunity (Ephesians 6:19-20) – Paul was altruistic. Being in prison was not a barrier to Paul, but rather an opportunity to preach and evangelize. What would be an obstacle for many others, was an open door to Paul to reach people all around him. During my stay in the hospital I could openly pray and share hope in Jesus with patients and hospital staff.
The COVID-19 wing of the hospital is extremely isolated because of the high risk of infection there. Patients there cannot even receive visitors. Every morning I would walk the halls of the wing for my physical therapy, stopping at doorways and talking with patients who were awake, many of whom were older than 60. After listening to their fears and anxieties I would encourage them with prayer and Scripture.
I also prayed with all the hospital staff, listening to their stories and encouraging them. Many healthcare workers have not seen their families in one or two months because they are fearful of infecting them. Other workers have already been infected and recovered, but are sometimes limited by ongoing effects of the disease. The workload for hospital staff in the COVID-19 wing has tripled because so many workers have become infected or have been reassigned to other areas because they are part of a high-risk group.
The hospital in which I stayed has become a place that receives COVID-19 referral patients from our region; not every hospital in our city [of over 300,000 people] will accept these patients. Some of those hospitals do not have the necessary facilities or staff to treat them. There are also some healthcare workers at other facilities who do not want to risk becoming infected. This means that the COVID-19 wing at the hospital at which I stayed has had a higher burden on its staff.
I prayed daily for the workers. I affirmed to them that God was raising them up for this very moment. Many patients have already returned or will one day return to their families thanks to the dedicated work of the hospital staff. God gave me the opportunity to pray and preach where no disciple of Jesus could enter unless they were already on hospital staff. This was for the Lord Jesus to strengthen the hospital workers there.
Gratitude (2 Corinthians 12:9) – It was grace, only the grace of God, that sustained me in those dark days. The Lord’s work in my life became well known to all the healthcare workers and my fellow COVID-19 patients during my hospital stay.
The doctor responsible for me was impressed with my recovery. She said that when I first arrived my lung infection looked like a white mass on a scan and my lungs operated at only a 52% capacity. But merely days later a new scan showed almost no mass in my lungs. She said this is not common because almost all the patients who are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 take a lot of time in the hospital to recover and after that often have months dealing with after-effects of the disease. After just ten days I was discharged with a very high stage of recovery.
My physical therapists were also amazed by my recovery. I would do therapy twice a day, mornings and afternoons. During the day I would do breathing exercises in order to shorten my recovery time. I was admitted to the hospital on a Tuesday, and by Thursday I decided I would not stay in bed all day. The weight of my body in bed was too much for my lungs. The bed was not my friend, but my enemy. Every day I would get out of bed, walk, and do breathing exercises.
On the day I got to go home the healthcare workers and cleaning staff gathered to discharge me. I said: “I am leaving here because God’s grace has been poured into my life; Jesus was at work in my recovery. My recovery was the answer to the prayers of God’s people and the tireless work of the hospital staff.”
COVID-19 demonstrated how much we are vulnerable, subject to the storms of this fallen world. But also, a door was opened wide that allowed me to be a minister of true hope to desolate hearts. The Lord Jesus continues being the only hope for the moment in which we live. This hope needs to be announced urgently. We should be grateful for God’s care for our lives and the people he brings to us to help us in difficult moments. May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit sustain us.
- Olavo Vigil, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Pelotas (RS) Brazil
*For the original post in Portuguese, click here. Translation was provided by Brandon Jones.