Fatigue

Have you ever been tired? I don't mean that end of the day, following lots of mental or physical work, where you are ready to curl up on the couch and take a nap kind of tired. I mean where you are so tired that you can't focus on doing the things you love. Things like reading, watching a favorite TV show with your daughter, taking a walk around the block with your wife. And then having to deal with that kind of tiredness day in and day out. That is my definition of fatigue. And that is the most significant side effect of my chemotherapy.

There are lots of side effects from the chemo. Many of them of a nature that I will not share in a blog. But the one that is having the greatest impact on my life is fatigue. I can't really tell you when it first hit. It just seems to have crept into my life and taken root. There are nights when I can sleep for ten or twelve hours, wake up and start my daily routine, and within a few hours be sitting in a chair or on the sofa with no energy or drive to do anything.

I've been blessed in that God has allowed me to stay focused through the workday at Book of Hope. However, where I used to spend two hours or more each evening reading or studying, now I can hardly focus on that task for 15 minutes. And on most evenings, staying up past 9:00 is a real challenge. It is kind of sad in that I'm in bed well before my teenage daughter.

I'm sharing this so that you can join with me in prayer for release from fatigue. Pray for energy to work a ten-hour day and still be a participant with my family in the evening. Pray that I will have the focus to continue my studies. Those studies are critical if I ever what to reach ordained minister status with the Assemblies. And pray that fatigue does not disrupt my international travels and the tasks that I perform as I travel around the world. My next trip will be to India from March 28 through April 14. Pray for the strength and stamina to be effective day and night during these weeks.