Let’s go back to Nr.167, which ended with,” In 1987 we returned to Canada, this time for quite an extended, and also a difficult and trying period, when our faith was severely tested, but more about that next time………! (See richardandmarina.net).

I wrote about the health problems of our oldest daughter Rosa. Because of her we lived in Canada for the next three years, but I was gone a lot of the time. Allow me to say just a little more about Rosa’s illness. At that time it was not really accepted as an illness, but said to be something psychological. That has all changed and I recently read an article with the title, “It’s time for doctors to apologize to their M.E. patients. For too long the medical community has dismissed ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ or M.E. as a mental illness which can be cured with therapy and exercise.” (See nr.168.)

M.E. is Myalgic Encephalopathy or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, see: http://www.thegracecharityforme.org/what.asp. A major report from the prestigious US Institute of Medicine has concluded that M.E. is a “serious, chronic, complex, systemic disease that can profoundly affect the lives of patients. M.E. is not a psychological problem.” It is estimated that CFS/ME affects about 1 in 300 people in the UK, possibly more. So we need to realize that there may indeed be people around us coping with this, and one of their biggest problems is, not being understood. Dear friends, there are a lot of hurting people with all kinds of problems all around us and they need our love and sympathy. Jesus came to heal, we are here in His place.

During the first while that we were back in Canada in ’87, our first concern was looking for help for Rosa. After the summer our other two daughters, Lily and Renee went back to Belgium to continue their studies and work, living in our house, and as Lily had her driver’s license, using our car to get around. At the beginning of January ’88 I went back to Belgium for about six weeks, preaching, meeting with workers and church leaders and speaking at a conference in another European country. The Lord blessed and provided, we were always amazed at His provisions, He knew what we needed and put it upon the hearts of His people to support us. Gifts came in from people we had never met, really amazing! Yes God is real indeed, we can certainly testify to that, He can be trusted. My trip to Belgium was to be repeated and that summer Marina and I, and Rosa, who was still well enough at that time, would travel to Europe for something very special………………..! (Go to Musings).