I personally am not a doctor or a medical professional; therefore, I know pretty much nothing about treating Ebola.  I am sure that goes for most of us.  Thank God for the folks who do know how to treat it!

However, perhaps there is something I can do.  Perhaps we all can do something.

What We Should NOT Do about Ebola

I’ll tell you what we should not do:  speculate and be fearful.  When Ebola was isolated to West Africa, it was easy to just watch TV and be like, “man, I feel sorry for them,” or, “I’m glad that’s not over here.”  It was even easy to totally ignore the issue, believing the US would never deal with Ebola directly.  I recall someone on the news (although I cannot remember who) saying how highly unlikely it was that the US would deal with Ebola on our soil.

Well, we all know now that it has indeed touched American soil.  And as always, news stations are sensationalizing the issue and causing the fear of the unknown to spread among us.

Ebola has definitely caused destruction of lives and families, and that is intimidating, but if I can be practical for a second…

…fear helps absolutely nothing!

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matt. 6:27 (NIV)

In a sense, what has happened is good for us in that it helps us realize that we are just as human as our West African brothers and sisters.  We are no better, and we are not immune to its spread.

What We Can Do

That said, what can we do about Ebola?  What should we do?

We are blessed to have a much more stable economy, as well as a stable medical infrastructure, so what can we do from our blessed position?

You may not be a doctor, but I can think of at least two “small” things that you and I can do to help:

• PRAY. No need in us watching TV constantly and just hoping that Ebola does not spread.  Pray!  Pray for the West Africans who have been affected for so long by this disease, and pray for others from other countries, including ours, who have suffered and are suffering.  Pray for the many medical personnel who are on the front lines.  Oh, and I am not just talking about one of those 15 second prayers.  Let’s pray like we actually believe that God hears our prayers and pays attention to us.  Fear and complacency are guaranteed wastes of time and will do nothing.
• Give to somebody who is helping.  If you want to help in the effort, giving to organizations on the front lines is another great way.  It is much better than assuming that “they” have it taken care of.  People are always needing supplies, medicine, money for travel expenses, etc.  This is a great opportunity for us to put some of our money to work and to fight the disease as a community.  Make sure that you do your own research on who you decide to give to.  Organizations I have heard of that are fighting Ebola directly include:
  • CDC Foundation
  • Samaritan’s Purse
  • Doctors Without Borders

Instead of sitting around and ignoring the news or being scared by it, let’s consider joining in with prayer and giving.  The people who have suffered are real humans like you and me.  Let’s focus not on what we cannot do, but on what we can do, and just maybe we all can help turn the tides against Ebola together.

For practical information on the nature of Ebola, how it spreads and how to avoid it, check out Dr. Ben Kim’s post here.

Click here to learn more about me!

Thank you for visiting YourHealthAtTheCrossroads.com. It is my sincere desire that you were encouraged and uplifted by this post. If it did help you, I encourage you to join my e-mail list today. Doing so will allow you to receive my weekly newsletter which includes my latest posts, as well as occasional updates, special announcements, or special discounts on my products for subscribers exclusively. You will also be joining a growing community of individuals who are serious about being healthy, like you.

Anyway though, there’s a lot more where this came from, so keep on browsing the blog!