She contemplated what she had heard. A spiritual cold. She had had a spiritual cold. What in the world was a spiritual cold?

She thought about physical colds and realized she really didn’t know much about them other than how they felt when she had them.

So she googled cold and found everyone pretty much said the same things:

colds are harmless viral infections,

 the very young and the very old seem to be the most vulnerable but colds and infect anyone,

most people recover from a cold in 7-10 days, unless they develop a complication which would be bad,

viruses spread through droplets in the air or by hand-to-hand contact with someone who has a virus, and enters the body through the mouth, eyes, or nose,

there are some ways to help prevent some colds: wash hands, disinfect stuff, use tissues, don’t share, steer clear of colds, take care of yourself,

 

OK, she knew all that. But what about making a person stronger?

She did some more searching and found that colds can be a sign of a healthy immune system, and that early exposure to colds and viruses will develop stronger immune systems reducing the likelihood of getting sick later in life. She also read that a cold or flu allows the body to cleanse itself and the immune system becomes stronger to fight future infections.

So, she concluded, a physical cold is uncomfortable, but actually good for you.

Hmmm… so how does that relate to a spiritual cold?

She did a comparison.

Physical cold – the young and the old are more susceptible                                    

Spiritual cold – she was spiritually young, just a baby Christian pretty much

Physical cold – spreads from someone else through the air or physical contact and enters the body through mouth, eyes, or nose

Spiritual cold – not sure how the nose fits in, but she knew information and ideas entered into her heart through what she let herself see (eyes) and think about (eat/mouth), maybe even what she talked about.

Physical cold – the uncomfortable symptoms are the result of a healthy immune systems called into action

Spiritual cold – her uncomfortable symptoms are actually good and show that her spirit is strong

Physical cold – makes the immune system stronger

Spiritual cold – makes her spirit stronger

Physical cold – there are way to prevent some colds: wash hands, disinfect, stay away from those with colds, take care of yourself

Spiritual cold – there are ways to avoid some spiritual colds: ask forgiveness for sins, clean out her books and TV choices and kill anything that may contain a virus, stay away from people with wrong ideas, and make sure she took care of herself both spiritually and physically which included daily time with God (exercise), read/listen to healthy messages (eat well), live in God’s peace by trusting Him (rest).

 

Wow, she thought. There are spiritual viruses all around me. So many different thoughts and ideas, temptations and sin. There is no way to avoid them. But even though something unclean entered my spirit, my spirit was strong enough to defeat it without my mind knowing all the details – and got stronger in the process. God had been right! She sat in awe of her Creator and the way He gave both her body and her spirit the ability to handle and even prevent whatever viruses came her way. What an amazing Creator her God was!