Am I breaking my promise to God?

[Chocoholic]

I have had medical problems for years, which at one point resulted in my doctor temporarily taking away my driver’s license. While at church, I felt God calling me to become part of a ministry that involves driving. Since I didn’t have a license at the time, I asked God to restore my health and my driver’s license so I could participate in the ministry. I promised to continue with the ministry as long as I could financially pay for my car insurance, gas, and other payments needed to keep a car, and for as long as my health permitted me to safely operate a car.

My medical condition has recently begun to flare up again, and the medication that used to work well to control it began causing dangerous side effects, including chest pain. Most days I am okay to drive, but on some days it is outright dangerous, and so I stay home. This is interfering with the ministry; when I have a flare up, I have no warning and cannot contact the other ministry members to let them know I won’t be there. This has been happening more frequently, so I asked them to take me off of the schedule temporarily so I can focus on getting the flare ups under control. The other reason I did this is that this wasn’t fair to the other ministry members; my not showing up caused a bit of minor chaos on several occassions. I have every intention of re-entering the ministry as soon as I find a way to control the flare-ups. I feel like I’m breaking my promise. I’m not sure if I’ve got a bit of scruples, or if I really am doing something wrong.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

You said when making this promise:

Chocoholic:

I promised to continue with the ministry as long as I could financially pay for my car insurance, gas, and other payments needed to keep a car, **and for as long as my health permitted me to safely operate a car **(emphasis added).

Even if you had not thought to cover yourself in such a way, rest assured that God expects us to use prudence and discretion. If your health does not permit you to drive, God does not expect you to put other people’s health and lives at risk by continuing to drive anyway. If your health improves and you are again able to drive safely and reliably, feel free to re-apply to the program in which you were taking part.

As a side note, it should be said that such programs are not properly called “ministries” by Catholics. Ministry ordinarily is restricted to the ordained. Laity participate in apostolates.