Tag Archives: healing

Lingering on Scripture

08 Saturday Feb 2025

Posted by in study scripture

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Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me . . .

This opening line is from a beautiful hymn written by Clara H. Scott in 1895, shortly before her death. It was inspired by Psalm 119, verse 18. She had been reflecting on all God had for people to see and understand — and they missed it. Ms. Scott died in 1897 after being thrown from her carriage by a spooked horse.

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A close friend and longtime Bible teacher said it was not until she received a grim medical diagnosis that Psalm 23 came alive for her. She clung to that psalm, speaking it aloud throughout the day and emphasizing different words to bring it deeper into her mind and heart. She did it like this: THE LORD is my shepherd, the Lord IS my shepherd, the Lord is MY shepherd, the Lord is my SHEPHERD.

It makes a difference when we take time to think about a scripture. To linger a while.

Sometimes, I have wondered how Jesus’ parents lost him for a full day before realizing he was missing. They were on their way home from Jerusalem where they had been to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was in the caravan of friends and family. He was just 12 years old, plus they knew their son wasn’t just any child, so I admit to thinking it seemed irresponsible. Recently when I read and lingered there, I saw a personal meaning. It reminded me that I also can lose sight of Jesus without immediately realizing it. It brought home a truth to me. (Read the story in Luke 2:41-47.)

What is your takeaway on the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee when the host ran out of wine? It was Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11). Do you think about how his mother took charge? His obedience to his mother? What the servants were thinking as they filled the stone jars with water? I personally linger a while with how anything Jesus touches is made better. When Jesus turned water into wine, the wedding guests declared with awe that wine was better than the wine first served. The revered theologian Matthew Henry says we should always expect more than we ask (of Jesus). I have certainly found that to be true with answered prayers, those of my own, and those of others.

I once taught a class on The Healings of Jesus. In preparation, I searched diligently through the gospels to identify the different healings and be sure I didn’t count the same healing more than once. It was an interesting study. After hours of research, a pastor friend loaned me a book with the full information. Though the book would have given me answers quickly from the beginning, I am glad I didn’t know about it when I began the study. I enjoyed the research and learned more by digging deep for the answers.

John 14:17 says the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of God. So, I encourage you to begin reading scripture by asking God what He wants you to take from your reading. Look for the details, and think about the different ones involved in a story and how their perspectives might differ. You may see a promise you believe is for you. If so, date it, and make a note. Always thank God for His Word and revelations, and ask Him to store those truths in your heart.

There is never a loss when we linger over scripture — just gain.

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This is an excellent book if you care to add it to your library. There is much more than the healings of Jesus.

Sue and Sophie, Caregivers

18 Tuesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Therapy Animals

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Sue was an ICU nurse in one of our outlying hospitals and was critically injured in a horrible automobile accident. The ICU that had been her workplace became where she lay as a patient.

The prognosis for Sue was poor. She might not make it. Her fellow nurses thought Sue should be allowed to see the one family member she had – a little long-haired chihuahua named Sophie. It was the 1990s, and hospital policies didn’t allow animals in, not even pets of terminally ill patients. Yet somehow, these very determined nurses and friends arranged for an exception.  

Sophie was brought in and laid against Sue, who was unconscious. Sophie, a model of good behavior, was permitted to snuggle for quite a while. After the visit, and for the first time, things began to turn around for Sue in a positive way. She began to show improvements.

Being reunited with Sophie had made a difference. I know this was how it happened because Sue told me. She knew her companion was there with her, loving her, needing her, and it put in Sue the will to live.

Sue made a commitment in those long days of recovery that once she was well enough, she was going to have Sophie trained to be a therapy dog. Sue wanted to be able to give others what she had been given.

Sue stayed true to that goal and Sophie became a certified therapy dog. They visited nursing homes and other facilities where therapy dogs were allowed.

Sue called and asked if she and Sophie might come for a visit to the parent hospital where I worked. The hope was to begin the change of system policy and allow therapy dogs in our hospitals. We set a time and Sue and Sophie drove for three hours to try and make a difference for patients through animal therapy.

We paid a visit to the vice president of nursing and Sue worked Sophie through obedience tests. She responded without hesitation to Sue’s every command. The convincing test I suppose was that she paid no heed to treats laid right beneath her nose until Sue gave her the signal that it was okay. Sophie proved herself trustworthy and we were given permission to visit a cancer patient who was missing her dog terribly.

Sophie regally walked the hall to the cancer care unit. She knew who she was. She wore her therapy dog tag with pride and held her head high. She paid no mind to those she passed by and wondered what a dog was doing in our hospital. Sophie looked straight ahead, headed toward her mission.

Arriving at her point of caregiving, Sophie was given the go-ahead to get up on the bed. Our patient crooned and loved on Sophie. Tears came to the patient’s eyes. It wasn’t her dog she got to see, but it was the next best thing. Sophie gave our patient comfort and emotional support. Her medicine was attention and affection. Just like she had given Sue, Sophie that day gave our patient hope for a brighter tomorrow.

I am pretty certain Sophie’s visit was the best medicine our patient received that day — maybe that week. She thanked Sophie and Sue repeatedly for coming.

I wish I could say we immediately wrote a policy for animal therapy. That didn’t happen. It takes time and patience and many departments to turn a hospital ship around. But it was a beginning. It definitely made a difference for our pet-lonely patient. It made a difference for Sue as a nurse to push the boundaries a little further on behalf of emotional support for patients. It made a difference for Sophie. Animals always know when they are loved and appreciated. Sophie knew from her training that she was contributing to patient care.

Martin Buber said, “An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” Once you’ve had an animal as a companion, you understand this truth. I would add it’s also about their touch. Their eyes and their touch speak love. They somehow know just what we need. Sophie knew. Sophie gave.

So God created. . .every living creature that moves. And God saw that it was good. –Genesis 1:21 ESV

You care for people and animals alike, O LORD. –Psalm 36:6

Note: Therapy dogs and service dogs are not the same. Here are some links for further understanding.

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/transforming-health-care/wagging-tail-and-puppy-eyes-bring-comfort

https://midtowners.webs.com/therapydogs.htm

Hearing God, Receiving by Faith

21 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in miracles

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I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.

–John 16:1 NLT

I believe I have blogged about my daughter’s healing from scoliosis in earlier years. I am feeling strongly to write about it again, perhaps providing more detail than previously.

Scoliosis is a curvature of the spine. Double scoliosis is when the curve is both in the upper and lower parts. The spine becomes “S” shaped. That is the kind my daughter developed.

When Kristi was in junior high, she was referred to an orthopedic physician by our family doctor. She appeared to have an abnormal curvature of her spine. The ortho doc x-rayed and said it was very mild scoliosis and he believed it was nothing to be concerned about.

We went back for a routine follow-up some months later and this time the orthopedic physician was concerned. Very. He said there had been a dramatic increase in the curvature and he wanted Kristi to be seen by a specialist in another city.

My daughter was almost 14. Girls are so conscious of their bodies at that age. She was devastated. She didn’t want to see more doctors and have more examinations and pleaded with me to not take her to another doctor. I was working for a family practice physician at the time and I knew the treatment available then. It would most likely mean a body cast, so I was also devastated.

I’ve had faith for as long as I can remember. However, what I was about to hear from God took a bolder step than I had ever experienced. It came the next morning during Bible study.

I was reading about the people of faith in Hebrews 11. Not in an audible voice, but strong just the same, I heard God say I was to give this matter to Him and not see a specialist. It was so strong I wrote this at the top margin of my Bible: It is in faith that I ask that Kristi’s back be made straight again – that scoliosis will totally disappear so that there can be no misunderstanding that God interceded and healed with divine power. The date was 12-27-78.

Each day I prayed about Kristi’s back. Some days I would let my eyes fall on her back as she walked away from me, and my breath would catch. I would ask myself if I was doing the right thing by not having her seen by a specialist. Yet, I knew that I had heard God speak. I kept on praying and believing.  

It was three and a half years later before I heard God speak again about Kristi’s back. It happened one morning as I had taken about three steps from my kneeling posture. (Yes, I pray all the hard battles on my knees; my grandmother taught me that.) I remember how I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the whisper you forgot something. I asked what, and heard you forgot to pray about Kristi’s back. I went back to prayer posture and before I could say a word, God spoke again. Kristi’s back is healed.

I was overwhelmed with joy! It seemed the sun shot through the room with major intensity. That whole experience is burned in my mind and heart forever!

After very emotionally thanking God for His answer to prayer, I went straight to the telephone to make an appointment with the ortho doc who had diagnosed her. I didn’t doubt the healing, but now it was time to gather proof for testimony.

I called for an appointment and learned Dr. Johnson was out of the country on a mission trip. His office made an appointment for us with the physician covering for him at another location. I was to pick up her x-rays and take them with us.

When Kristi was diagnosed, I had not been shown the x-rays, which was common practice back then. I got home with the manila envelope of spine x-rays, opened it, and held them up to the window for viewing. I was not prepared for what I saw. There was a very strong “S” curvature of her spine. My first thought was what have I done to my child?! But that thought was immediately washed away by I have done what the Lord told me to do and I’m still trusting. I didn’t show them to my daughter.

The day of the appointment came to see the covering orthopedic physician. On examining Kristi, he said he saw no evidence of scoliosis but would do an x-ray. After a short wait, he came to the room and motioned for us to follow. He pointed to the screen where both x-rays were up. On the left was the x-ray that brought on the diagnosis and referral. On the right was that morning’s x-ray. There was no scoliosis!

I asked the physician how he explained it. He said he couldn’t. I responded that I could. God answered my prayers. He simply looked at the x-rays and didn’t comment.

On 6-11-81, I wrote alongside the first note I saw the x-ray that showed no scoliosis. Thank God! That was three and a half years of waiting for our miracle, but it came. We can trust God absolutely when we know He has spoken to us.

There is a scripture reference noted on that same page, Luke 22:44. It was about Jesus praying so earnestly that sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. It had been my encouragement to pray as earnestly as I knew how for God’s healing.

I’m blogging on this today for two reasons: Maybe a new reader needs to hear this and not give up as they wait for an answer to prayer. God hears all prayers, not just the little ones. So if you have heard His direction on a matter, confidently trust and follow. The second reason is I just heard a sermon on the importance of telling about our miracles. The pastor said our testimony of miracles is the preparation for someone else’s miracle.

So, I close by asking you this. Do you have a miracle to tell? Examine your life closely. Find the miracle(s) and share your experience. Encourage someone as they wait by giving your testimony. Give it in specifics. God told Joshua to set up stones of remembrance so their miracles wouldn’t be forgotten. In some way, be sure you capture your miracles for future generations (Joshua 4:21-24).

It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.

–Daniel 4:2 ESV

For we cannot help but speak of the things we have seen and heard.

–Acts 4:20 ESV

Notes in my Bible as mentioned in the
blog. Hold on to your remembrances.

She Taught Me to Pray

02 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by in prayer

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The earliest visual memory of my grandmother is of her praying. She was on her knees, beside her bed, and it was her last prayer before sleeping. Mama’s long braids fell down her back, over her homemade gown, and she prayed aloud.

As a child, when I was sick with something that made me feel terrible but wasn’t life-threatening, I remember Mama getting down beside my bed and praying for me. She called out to Jesus to make me well. Though I don’t remember what was wrong with me, I will never forget how she prayed.

During the day, Mama had ongoing conversations with the Lord. You knew because if you came up behind her without her knowing, you heard the conversations. It was like friends speaking to one another. She might be cooking, or rocking in her chair. But her Friend was beside her and they talked.

She told me once that she prayed every day for all her children (seven, plus spouses) and grandchildren. She called out our names as she prayed. In heaven, we will learn just how blessed each of us was by her prayers.

My grandmother’s kind of relationship with the Lord, one that was devoted to prayer, carved a forever place in my heart. To know she was praying daily for me was strength. It was assurance. It was a resting place.

Dr. Charles Stanley says we win all our battles on our knees. I do know there is something different about that posture in prayer. It puts us in the right position with Almighty God. We bow in humility and trust. My prayers become more centered that way. I stay much more focused. I sense a stronger presence of the Lord.

This is not so much to tell you about my grandmother as to encourage readers to let their children and grandchildren see you pray. Give them a visual to carry with them through life. Show them that He may also be our friend, but first He is one we should fall before in worship.

My grandmother taught me this: God is Supreme. He is Almighty. He is to be solemnly worshiped. There must be a place in your life that is reserved for Him alone. Never try to tamp down who God is. Keep doing your best to rise to what He wants from you and for you.

As a parent or grandparent, let those you love see a proper way of worship. Familiarize them with Old Testament stories that showed great reverence and respect. Let them read how God’s chosen people took care to worship all through their journeys.

Teach your children and grandchildren. Give them visuals that will carry them through life. I am so grateful I have that from my grandmother. She taught me to pray.

Come, let us bow down in worship,

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Psalm 95:6 (NIV)

This picture is probably from late 1965. It was our four-generation picture that my grandmother wanted us to have. She, Dulcie Cotton Spencer, is on the left, and my mother, Louise Spencer Luffman, is on the right. The baby, my daughter, Kristi McClain Hearn, says I gave her my faith. Nothing she could say to me could make me happier.

Calls to Serve

10 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by in Christian service

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My last blog, posted October 25, was on obeying God’s direction to serve even when we don’t understand. You might want to read When We Have an Assignment to Serve before reading this one.

Some assignments are so clear, you simply cannot miss them. Others may be subtle little nudges that can go easily unnoticed. They seem small, happen quickly, and are easily passed by.

I email daily prayer needs to our church family. As I was preparing an email Tuesday of this week, it occurred to me that I should do a little more than I was doing. I should close out the email with scriptures relative to the needs. I added one for healing and another for comfort.

Early that evening I received a call from someone who receives my emails. She began with I’ve had a miracle happen! She has a chronic disease that sometimes flares and causes a great deal of pain. She had been out for the day when it hit and she rushed home, not knowing where this flare was taking her. She sat on the side of her bed, growing weaker and pain progressing. She was trying to decide whether she should go to the emergency room. She reached over for her cell phone and scrolled through emails and pulled up the prayer list for the day. Her eyes fell on the healing scripture below the names and needs and she read it aloud: LORD, my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me (Psalms 30:2). Immediately the pain left. Completely. She felt new strength coursing through her body. She said to me, I promise you, that is exactly how it happened. I called out for help using that scripture and I was instantly healed!

This is what I mean by listening for our assignments. Only God knew that something as simple as a scripture added to my email would be exactly what someone was going to need later in the day. Only He knew that it would become someone’s personal prayer.

This was a whisper of the Holy Spirit that I could have easily ignored and never thought about again. I confess I didn’t think about it being God’s voice at the time. But you see, He is always talking to us and we have to realize and honor that. If it is in our mind to do something and it lines up with scripture, then we can count on it being from God.

I think I know what led me to this particular assignment. I had awakened that morning with the sad memory of a physician friend who had taken his life. He was an exceptionally compassionate physician. I never knew another quite like him. Always available, always patient, always deeply caring. A treatment he had given a patient resulted in her death and he was never able to emotionally recover. What cut me the deepest as I remembered was that in all our conversations, we never talked about faith and eternal life.

So, this week I have reminded myself that the time to witness is NOW. I urge you, that if you see an opportunity, and feel a nudge to do something that witnesses and brings glory to God, go forward and do that thing. NOW.

Heed instruction and be wise. And do not neglect it. –Proverbs 8:33

The Lord will guide you always. –Isaiah 58:11

Perspective on Life from Hospital Days

24 Thursday Mar 2022

Posted by in healthcare stories

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Hospitals know a lot of heartaches. An illness brings someone in, but that person comes with all their problems and they should never be under-estimated in their journey of healing. During my years as a patient advocate, I came to know a lot of wonderful people and a lot of their heartaches.

The very first patient I ever dealt with was a teenager battling a rare disease. It wasn’t thought he would recover, but he did. After being home a while and getting back on his feet, he fell in with a wrong group and was killed as a result of association. When his dad came to tell me, I found it hard to take in. This young man who had won the battle of disease, only to have his life end in senseless tragedy – how could it be? How did his parents manage their grief so soon after being on a mountaintop of joy?

There was an elderly woman who was with us one December and it was uncertain as to whether she would be staying through Christmas Day. Most patients wanted badly to be out and home for Christmas, but this dear lady preferred staying. She said she would rather be in a hospital with people around her than go home and be alone.

I think about another elderly and gentle woman. She confided in a nurse that she knew her children were taking things from her house while she was hospitalized. They were using her absence and access to her house keys to take what they wanted. How can children do that? Social Service was called, but intervention didn’t take away the sadness of such abuse nor the pain that mother’s heart knew.

There was a delightful man who did his best to make every day positive in some way, all the while knowing he was dying and would probably not leave the hospital. He called for his grandchildren to come so that he could talk to them about how needless his early death was, that he was dying because he had abused his body, and wanted to impress upon them their opportunity to live life better. He gave his speech and then went back to bringing laughter into the room. What a brave individual!

I recall the many families who were torn apart by end-of-life decisions. Spouses and children couldn’t agree on when it was time to let their loved one go, even when the patient had made personal wishes clear to the family. Sometimes it was a spouse who held on, other times it was the children. Before the day of the Patient Self-Determination Act that gave us the Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney, it could be an especially tough issue to resolve. Just when families needed to pull together, impending death often brought family discord and added anguish.

There was a very loving wife who delayed bringing in her husband’s Living Will because she wasn’t ready to give him up. They had been married more than 50 years and she thought she would rather take him home and care for him like an infant rather than lose him forever. After taking some time to work it through – weighing what she knew he wanted against her heartache in giving him up – she did eventually bring in his Living Will. Decisions in the midst of grief are always the hardest to make.

I think about the nurses who cried when babies would not live outside their mothers’ wombs and how they consoled those empty-armed mothers. And I remember the doctors who gave the extra measure of hope to their patients while battling extremely tough medical cases. There were pharmacists who spent time explaining a medicine or apologizing for delays and confusion when the fault wasn’t theirs, kitchen staff that made special surprises for those who needed an emotional boost, chaplains who counseled with family members in despair and prayed with patients over their fear and confusion.

One caregiver that really touched my heart was a physical therapist who was an expert at building bridges with patients with her sense of humor. I remember a family support meeting in our rehab area where we all sat around a table with the patient and caregivers explained to his family the patient’s progress. The stroke victim was expressionless until it came the physical therapist’s turn to speak. Ellen jumped right in, applying her good-humored teasing directly to the patient, and speaking much more frankly than any of the others. She told this patient he wasn’t doing all she knew he could do and she didn’t soft pedal it. Was he offended? Oh, no. His face just lit up with joy. For the first time in the meeting, he participated to the degree he was able. His therapist had made a heart contact when she worked with him; he knew she saw him as a unique individual and not just another patient recovering from a stroke. It was a beautiful moment.

A hospital is a microcosm of society. My point in reflecting on what I learned there is this: what I saw in a smaller setting is what we have all around us. Wherever we work or live, there are hurting people. Life is filled with opportunities to help someone along the way. By realizing that we walk amidst suffering, we can be more kindly observant and less judgmental, more giving and less self-centered. We can choose to not have as one of our biggest regrets someday, the things we had a chance to do for someone else and didn’t.

There is not one single person anywhere who doesn’t appreciate a little extra kindness, some measure of caring. Often the tiniest efforts mean the most. The degree of appreciation usually lies in the size of the hole in the heart – and that, only the hurting one knows.

Pat Rowland is retired from Methodist Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was Corporate Director of Patient Affairs.

Commercial Appeal, December 2012

The Problem with Assuming

10 Friday Dec 2021

Posted by in Assumptions

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I am reading an 1800s novel about a man who causes himself great heartache when he assumes something to be true solely based on what he sees. In the story, Larson is badly burned while away from home on business. He survives only by a godly couple’s determined care for his body and soul. He is unable to get word to his wife, Kathryn, and is thought to have died in a snowstorm. Yet his wife never gives up hope that he is alive and will come back to her.

Months later, when Larson is able to travel, he lingers on the outskirts of his rural community’s small town, watching for his wife and wondering if she will accept him back into her life. The burns have left him scarred beyond recognition. He is hesitant to reveal himself to his wife for fear of her disgust and rejection upon seeing him. 

Larson, looking on from the shadows of the small town, sees his wife going into a brothel and assumes she has turned to this kind of life to make a living. They were barely surviving when he left home. He also notices a bulge at her waistline and assumes, rightly so, that she is pregnant. But Larson believes Kathryn is pregnant by someone she entertained. Now he is the one filled with disgust.

Larson’s assumptions were wrong. Kathryn was taking food to a woman in the brothel, a woman she was bearing witness to that God had a better plan for her life. And the baby she was carrying was his, conceived on their last night together. He had not given room for that possibility because, after 10 years of trying to have a baby, Larson believes himself to be sterile.

For quite a while, Larson watches from afar, loving her with all that he is but doubting his ability to accept things as they appear to be. He finds solace for his heartache only when he turns to the Bible the couple had given him. Philippians 4:8 said to Larson, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (ESV).

Kathryn had been all these things and when he focuses on these truths, Larson finds peace. God’s word becomes a shelter for him from the harsh winds of his conjecture. When he falters and lets go of God’s wisdom, each time he falls back into assumptions which leads to agitation and anger. He inflicts needless pain on himself by believing what he thinks he is seeing — but isn’t real.

Aren’t we all guilty from time to time? Making ourselves miserable with assumptions? Remember how Jack Webb of Dragnet fame used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am (or sir), just the facts”? That’s still good advice. We can wind up in a place we don’t need to be and find later the destination was completely unnecessary and not on God’s map for us at all. The Message Bible says this in Proverbs 25:8: “Don’t jump to conclusions. There may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw.”

Tamera Alexander is an inspired writer, weaving scripture into the storyline exceptionally well. Her book, Rekindled, is a good reminder of many things, but for this blog purpose, it is that we should never make decisions based on assumptions. And, even should our assumptions turn out to be correct, God’s overriding principle is still Love. His word is a book of love. His love for us and how He wants us to love others. We shore ourselves up mightily when we read and practice its wisdom daily.

God’s word is always wisdom.

Prayerful Pondering’s beautiful header is by Mark Hearn, my son-in-law.

Not So Blind Faith

12 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by in Sight

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(1) As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. . . (6) He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the mud (7) and said to him, “Go, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which meant Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (John 9: 1, 6-7 NIV).

In 2016, I experienced a partial loss of vision in my right eye due to a retinal branch vein occlusion.  In layman’s terms, that’s an eye stroke. When I went for treatment, the retinal specialist also found that my eye pressure was too high and my cataracts now needed surgical removal. With so much to take in, this threat to my vision became uppermost in my mind.

Although I have had excellent care, the journey hasn’t been easy. After experiencing surgical complications, preserving my vision still involves frequent medical intervention. Now, the blind man’s story in John 9 has become more personal to me.

This man had never before experienced physical sight, but his story tells me that his hearing may have become acute. Modern medicine has reported that when one sense is missing, the brain rewires itself to compensate for that part of the brain not being used.

Jesus had just spoken in the temple. Had the blind man been listening? Did he hear that same voice when Jesus stood near him and realize who He was? Did Jesus deliberately walk nearby the blind man to test his trust that Jesus was the Son of God and could heal him? Did the blind man sense with his spiritual eyes what he could not with his physical eyes?

In pondering these verses, I think the blind man immediately recognized Jesus’ voice and heard Him say that He was the Light of the World sent by God the Father (see vv1-5). His hearing may have been more acute, but I believe the Holy Spirit was also at work, giving him spiritual vision. I believe this man’s heart leapt with joy at the sound of His voice and then again as he felt the Lord’s gentle touch. He knew he was in the presence of God and, that day, he received two sights: physical and spiritual.

Jesus could have healed the man with just His touch. So, why did He direct him to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash from his eyes the ointment He had applied? I believe it was a test of obedience. And it is at this part of the story that I pause to ponder more, to ask myself:

What am I doing with what He asks of me?

 How intently do I listen for His voice?

How quickly do I act in obedience?

While I marvel at the miracle of Jesus’ healing, for me, the greater lesson is recognizing my need to listen more keenly and obey more immediately. I pray daily to retain my physical sight. I am reminded here to pray just as fervently for my spiritual sight – to hear God’s call to me and obey.  

Jesus Heals All Afflictions

14 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in healing

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In a study of the people Jesus healed, I noted eleven different afflictions: demon/evil spirit possessed, paralytics, blind, fever, leprosy, dying, hemorrhage or bleeding, raised from the dead, seizures, bent over, deaf/mute. Though these have their specific stories, it doesn’t mean they were the only diseases or afflictions that Jesus healed. Thousands came to Him and He healed all that asked.

It may be that the woman bent over for 18 years is the one that captures my attention the most. Her story is told in Luke 13:10-13 and, depending on the Bible translation, she is described as bent double, hunched over, bowed together, twisted and bent. All translations agree that she could no longer stand straight. I have seen a few people like this and thought how terrible it would be to live bent over, how restricted one’s life would be because of it. Her story captures my attention because of the immediate parallel I see with mind state. With this woman’s physical condition I think of others who, though not bent over physically, are certainly bent over emotionally. They seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, as we are inclined to say. I remember a friend who lost her young son in a car accident. Her hair turned to gray overnight and she rarely smiled. Her sorrow had weighed her down and in my mind, I saw her as bent over from the loss of her beloved son. She was never quite the same.

Then I began to look at each of Jesus’ healings with new eyes. Those who could not see remind me of those who wander into wrong relationships. They don’t want to see the warning signs and so they close their eyes and involve themselves in situations that will cause eventual heartache. They are blinded by emotions.

Those with leprosy were outcasts. They were judged as unfit and shut off from society. Many of us have had times when we felt unwanted and shut out. We might not suffer from a terrible skin disease, but the isolation is just as painful in its own way.

The healing that Jesus did most by my search was that of the demon or evil possessed. They suffered in horrific ways. Chains wouldn’t hold them. Some were thrown into fire or water. Some tore off their clothes. Others fell to the ground in convulsions. These people lived lives out of control. And, of course, this makes me think of those who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, on and on. Addiction is one of the hardest things to bring under control. Because of the stronghold addiction has on an individual’s life, much is thrown into a kind of fire. Marriages, families, careers, health—all are destroyed by the demons of addiction.

In every healing of Jesus, I am reminded of something in the mind state. Some of us need physical healing and some of us need healing of the mind or emotions. Whatever our need, Jesus is able to heal. He is a God of compassion and He cares about our brokenness.

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14 (ESV)

“Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

 

My appreciation to Flickr for free photos.

When You’ve Prayed All You KnowTo Pray

01 Thursday Dec 2016

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I wrote this almost six years ago on what to do when we have prayed everything we know to pray. I post it again today for a friend who is feeling that way.

JESUS

Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.
Sometimes that is the only prayer I have – and it is enough.
When I’m waiting for an answer that doesn’t come and I know no more prayers to pray, I utter His name — Jesus.
When the night is long and I can’t sleep, I whisper — Jesus.
When I’ve lost my way, I cry out to the One who has not lost me.  I pray — Jesus.
When I’m tired and I can’t see rest ahead, when all strength is gone, I breathe His name — Jesus.
When I am in pain, I remember the One who can heal, and I plead — Jesus.
If I’m afraid, I bear in mind that I have a Shield whose name is — Jesus.
He is my Savior and my Lord, my Shelter and my Comforter.
He gives me sanctuary under His wing and supplies me with restoration and peace.
He is the Holy Lamb of God, the One who comes with compassion and new hope.
He is my Faithful Friend and the Radiant Light on this earth’s journey.
He is the Way of all righteous, the ever-abiding Truth, and the Life of love and joy.
He is the Mighty and Eternal God