My Stomach Hurts!
by Travis Antonich

Hi, children happy Sabbath. This is me Travis with Downey Seventh Day Adventist Church. It’s a new year. hope you’re all doing well. I hope you have all come up with your list of new habits or new goals that you want to accomplish this year. I know that’s always fun for me to do.

I got a children’s story. And this children’s story involves a little girl named Maria. And Maria was really sick. See, one day Maria was at home with her mom. And Maria had a big tummy ache. She says “mom, my stomach hurts.” So her mom went and got her some stomach medicine. She said maybe it’s just an upset stomach. And so one hour passed by and it didn’t get better. It got worse. Maria was in pain. Maria said, “mom, my stomach hurts. It’s getting worse.” So the mother thought, Okay, I think it’s time to go to the doctors. She got Maria and they went to the urgent care. And as soon as they went to the urgent care the whole ride, Maria was saying how much she felt like throwing up was just the worst feeling right when you feel like you’re gonna throw up.

And as soon as I get to the doctor’s Maria just throws up. And the mother knew something was wrong. And so they got to the doctor’s office, and the doctor takes blood and run some tests. And Maria is in pain, she could hardly move until the doctor comes in and says Maria, and to the mom. She says, we found out what’s the matter with you. You have appendicitis. Now we know what we all have an appendix to small organ that hangs from our stomach area. It’s very small and tiny.

And luckily, we we can live without it. See a lot of people I got my appendix removed. So when you get appendicitis, it’s like your appendix is infected. And the little appendix starts to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it could explode. And if it explodes, it’s bad because you can have all this pus in your body and things get infected and it’s terrible. Luckily for Maria, the doctor said it did not explode. But she would have to go into surgery. And so Maria looks at her mom. She says “Mom, I’m afraid. I don’t want to go alone.” And the mother looked at Maria and she said you know Maria, Jesus promised that you’re never alone. Jesus promised that he has given charge over the angels to watch over us. So not only do you have God watching over you, you have angels as well. And the angels will be with the doctors during the surgery. Some Maria felt a lot better.

And so she went into the surgery and luckily they put you to sleep and as soon as Maria woke up, no pain. She was sitting in the hospital room and next to her was her mother. And she said, Mom, what happened? The mother said, Maria, you just came out of surgery, they removed your appendix and everything went well. You just have a small little scar, where they had to open in your stomach to take it out. But you’re fine now, no more stomach pain. But you are going to be sore for like a week. And Maria said, Hey, Mom, if God made us perfect, why did I get sick? And the mother looks at Maria and she tells her, you see Maria, even though God made us perfect. We live in a sinful world. And because we live in a sinful world, that means bad things are just gonna happen. That’s why we need God to protect us as much as we can. And because we live in a sinful world, we needed Jesus to come to take our sins away, right? That’s why he came. And Jesus promises that one day, he’s gonna make a new world, with no more sin, no more suffering, no more pain. And so Maria finally understood what this meant. You see, Maria was very healthy child, she would eat all our veggies and drink tons of water and fruits. But because we live in a sinful world, sometimes people are just going to get sick. Sometimes things will just go bad. But that doesn’t mean God has left us. He’s still there, watching over us. And Maria’s mother explained how God was there with the doctors. See, thank God, we have the doctors able to help heal us. As well as our bodies. Think about our bodies when we get sick. What does our bodies do our bodies fight, we fight we fight we fight. When we get cuts, what happens? Our body heals us. How awesome Jesus created our bodies so wonderfully. that protects us, that will fight for us, that heals itself. And Maria finally understood a lot more about God that day. She was very lucky and blessed that she knew Jesus was watching over her. So children the next time you’re sick, just remember, Jesus is there with you. Jesus is with the doctors. And Jesus has sent His holy angels to watch over us. And we don’t ever have to be afraid.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year. And I’ll see you all next time. Have a blessed day.