Continuation from pt 1…… I was getting to a good place of being settled with the question of healing on the race, and simply recognizing and being grateful for all healing, dramatic or not.
And then in Lesotho we prayed for a man’s ankle pain to be gone, and it wasn’t. It felt like the way I normally pray for healing was blocked, I wasn’t experiencing the same closeness with Holy Spirit like normal when I pray for healing, and it felt like there was something stopping healing from happening. I got real real confused.
As I prayed and asked my team about it, I heard the Lord say, “it doesn’t have to be you” and “seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added”. Pretty straight forward, I had put too much of an emphasis on physical healing as a way that God shows His love, when there are many ways. One of our squad leaders was talking about it and pointed out that every person Jesus healed eventually died. Lazarus come back from the dead, eventually died in his physical body. The blind man that Jesus spat in the mud to open his eyes, eventually died in his physical body. Healing wasn’t the end goal. A relationship with Christ was. Seeking first the KINGDOM of God was the main goal and the rest will be added cause healing naturally follows.
I thought I had a better grasp, I was excited for it to be my teammates that would pray for healing(and I would back them in prayer). It didn’t have to be me cause it’s not about my pride, but probably it’d be my teammates right? Not entirely.
On our last day of village evangelism I was with two of my teammates. We ran across an older woman who asked us to fill her water jug because it was difficult for her. We gladly did and she said we were the answer to her prayer that morning, that someone would come along to help her. God showed up for her directly by answering the exact prayer she prayed at precisely the right time we just happened to be walking near her, what a miracle. We talked and encouraged her for an hour or so and had the best time. Her husband asked if she had given us food, she replied, “no, they’re the ones who have given me food today because their encouragements and prayers had filled her”. What a sweet woman. We noticed she used a cane so we asked if we could pray for her ankle, she said yes. She walked for a little while without her cane and said her ankle felt better, but a few minutes later she once again grabbed her cane and said she was feeling a little pain. She thanked us profusely for visiting her and said what a blessing it was, and I went away very confused why her pain hadn’t totally disappeared. Still, I was thanking God for the miracle that we did get to see and for continuing to heal her.
the sweet woman who welcomed us into her home
As we walked back we ran into the other team that had been doing evangelism that day. They told us this story of a woman they had visited. There had been a lot of gang violence in the valley where we were and her son had been shot the week before. The team prayed comfort over her and loved on her and her family. She then asked them to pray over her ankle. They did and then were shocked as this old lady threw her cane across the room and started running back and forth. They said the look on the grandkids’ faces said it all. Immediately I was thrilled that she had experienced healing like that! And also, I was really confused. I heard God say again, “it doesn’t have to be you”. I took that to mean it was going to be my team, but it actually didn’t have to be anyone near my vicinity at all. Part of the beauty of the kingdom is you get to celebrate things that happen that you weren’t even there for, because you know the impact it has. We were very excited and it was a great lesson in humility.
There are things about healing that I don’t understand. I can’t tell you why some people experience it and some people don’t, I don’t have those answers. If I did, I’d be God, so there’s beauty in letting the mystery of God remain the mystery of God. What I do know is that our God is a god of goodness and doesn’t cause the pain and suffering we see in this world. His will is that there would be wholeness in people’s physical bodies because that’s what happened in scripture. I’m still going to pray for complete healing for people every single time, cause it’s not my name that’s at stake, it’s God’s and He has said that this is His will and that the signs of healing will follow those who believe.
AMEN!
“Part of the beauty of the kingdom is you get to celebrate things that happen that you weren’t even there for, because you know the impact it has.” Yes and amen! I’ve been thinking about this a ton recently.
LOVE YOU
Yes! Two times in my life I experienced a miraculous healing – a bad sore throat that I had for two weeks went away after attending a Passover service, and my left ACL was completely torn out, bruised a bone and tore my MCL. The surgeon (who also was surgeon for the Avalanche hockey team) said, “If you want to return to a normal life you will HAVE to have surgery. Cartilege once it’s torn won’t heal.” Well, God had something else to say about that and my knee has been completely healed, I’ve done all the things I used to do before the ACL tear and more…all without surgery! And there is another issue I’ve had for many years that hasn’t been healed yet. So, I’m with you and your questions!