‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise~ Laura Story
He heals me, He heals me not…
Several years ago when my boys were little, I was volunteering at a chili supper at the elementary school where my middle, and most impetuous son, Kristopher was attending at the time. I loved chili suppers, school carnivals, book fairs, and all the things that bring back fond memories of school days gone by.
It was a great night, surprisingly good food, and now it was time to clean up. I was doing my part but didn’t really know my way around a commercial school kitchen and went to reach into a sink full of hot water to retrieve a cookie sheet. I reached down into the water so fast without noticing the sign above the faucet that said, “CAUTION: WATER REACHES TEMPERATURE OF 190 DEGREES!”, which is just below the boiling point.
The rest of the evening is a blur but I do remember the principal taking me to the ER, my husband meeting me there, my arm being a ghostly shade of white and in terrible pain. The doctors lathered me all up in creams and wrapped my arm and hand in gauze and bandages until I felt like a mummy. They confirm that I do have second degree burns from above my elbow to my fingertips and to expect a rough night. They gave me pain medicine and said to come back the next afternoon. As soon as we got home my husband called our pastor and family and many people started praying for me. But I slept like a baby that night; I never woke up one time.
The next day I kept telling my husband that I felt no pain under the bandages and that scared him because he thought that meant something was really wrong. We went back to the doctor and I told the nurse before she started to remove the bandages that I felt no pain and that everything was fine. She said that was impossible, she had read my chart and nobody recovers in 24 hours from what had happened to me!
When she had removed all the bandages and nothing was left but the cream she turned around to get something and I started wiping it off and she screamed that I was wiping off skin!! She was nearly hysterical. But I tried to show her that it was healed!! She just could not believe it, she kept looking at my chart and then back at my arm and saying it wasn’t possible. There was not one mark, not one blister, not a scar, absolutely nothing! It was as if nothing had ever happened, exactly as it was the day before the accident. God had completely healed my arm! She still did not know how to react to the miracle; she just kept shaking her head and saying she had never seen anything like it.
I went from the doctor’s office straight to the school. When I showed the kitchen manager my completely clean and healed arm I thought she was going to pass out. She gasped and said, “Oh, my Lord! It is a miracle!” She said she had two others that had worked with her in the cafeteria before who had done the same thing and they had scars to this day from where they had put their hands down in that water. The principal was in shock because he was with me in the hospital and had heard the doctors. Every time I walked in that school they called me the Miracle Lady. I never wondered why that accident happened. I KNEW why it had happened. It was for the Glory of God! I know it was worth that few moments of pain for people to know that He still heals and performs miracles today.
But what about the times when God chooses NOT to heal?
Sometimes we pray and it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. I have dealt with this myself so much in the last couple of years that I have begun to study the Word and see just what does it say about faith and healing? So many times we hear that it is always the will of God that EVERYONE be healed. And even worse are those that say that God will always heal IF we have enough faith.
How many times have we confused innocent Christians by statements such as “IF you have enough faith”? We have all been in services where Godly people have wanted to be healed and come forward for prayer and been told that if they only believed they would be healed. Then, if they do not receive their miracle they feel as if somehow it is their fault. No one means to do harm here at all. We all believe God can heal but do not realize what we are doing to those that are hanging on these words for all they are worth! They may leave a church service thinking there is something wrong with their walk with God because they were not healed. This should never happen.
Let us consider that sometimes it is not the Lord’s will or His timing that we be healed.
I am not saying the Lord puts these things upon us but I am saying that He can make something good from them. He has a better plan.
“So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 NLT.
God told Paul that healing wasn’t necessary in this situation. He was given the thorn to TEACH and to learn and then he was given GRACE as a means to cope and take him through his suffering. If God’s grace was enough for Paul why wouldn’t it be enough for us today? Our suffering serves a purpose as well.
Drawing closer to Him in the valley, learning to call on Him in times of trouble or just learning to know He is near, all of these will bring glory to God. David said “…in the valley, He restores my soul.” Psalms 23.
According to John 14:12-14, we are to be asking for things in Jesus’ name:
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
My, how this verse has caused me personally so much confusion down through the years! I never thought I had enough faith! Just because we pray in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean we receive everything we ask of God! We are to pray in the authority of Jesus. So when we pray, whether we are praying for a healing, a blessing or a financial miracle, it must agree with His will if He is going to answer it. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” 1 John 5:14-15.
Otherwise if you say it is always God’s will to heal then you have to say that anyone that is not healed doesn’t have enough faith. But Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed, the tiniest seed we can think of, is enough to move a mountain into the sea! So how little faith must someone have if they are not healed?
Some believe that Timothy had stomach problems and that is why Paul states in 1 Timothy 5:23, “Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often.” And so it looks like Timothy wasn’t healed either. What about John the Baptist and James, they were executed! Many of the disciples gave their lives for the Gospel. God didn’t rescue them and He could have! Was it perhaps because it wasn’t His will?
What about men and women of faith today? Why do we wear glasses, braces and hearing aids? Why does Billy Graham have Parkinson’s? Why did Lee Stoneking have another heart attack? What about our precious missionaries to Singapore, the Willoughby’s, both stricken with disease here on this earth and both taken to glory at a young age while they were doing a great work for God? God did not heal them! Did they lack faith?! Of course not!
Their living brought glory to God and their dying brought glory to God.
Yes, God is glorified by healing! Such as in my story I have shared, it had such an impact on my friends and the school.
God is also glorified through the life of a Christian whose faith is not diminished because of their illness.
They continue to walk with God in spite of the pain and suffering they go through on a daily basis. In fact they flourish! They radiate the glory of God on their face and in the fact that they still honor God in their walk with Him.
When I finally took the pressure from myself and realized that if and when God decided to heal me He can, I rejoiced in the revelation that He was in control and not my faith. It has nothing to do with ME, the healing power is not in my hands, but it is in His.
We must have faith that God CAN heal, but we must accept that God may not always heal if it is not His will.
That does not mean He doesn’t love me or has forsaken me. Quite the contrary, He will be everything I need Him to be if I will allow Him. “…I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10. He will walk you through your adversity, your cancer, your chronic illness, MS, lupus, brain tumor, migraines, fibromyalgia, and oh, so many, many more.
And we trust Him that He knows what is best. His grace is sufficient for me.
You might also enjoy Living at the Intersection of Faith and Chronic Illness!
Of course you may share. I sure don’t have all the answers but I know God does still heal today and I also know when we must wait for that healing or miracle that He can turn it into something for our good and His Glory. Blessings to you dear friend. ♥
Woow!!! Thanks Candace for sharing this. This is so insightful. I will definitely bookmark this page, because I will need a reminder from time to time. When I have an acute attack of migraine, I will always remember to have faith in Him, His grace is sufficient and that He has better plans for me.
Is it ok if I share the link with people who I think will gain from this?
This is so very powerful. I am learning that God is Lord over our lives and in sickness whether or not we are healed it is up to Him…our Master, Our Lord. I feel that we just need the faith to believe that whatever the circumstance is…it is for our good and for Him to be glorified….God, give us the patience to endure.
Great Article Sis. Nanette.
I AM loving Holy Week! Thank you, Candace Jo! I love you bunches!!
Thanks Amy, I have wanted to write about this for sometime, just hard to get all my thoughts together! I truly believe God still performs the miraculous today but I also know of many that are suffering and needing to know that God has a purpose for their season of life. Aren’t you loving the SRT Holy Week!! I look forward to your thoughts each morning friend. You are blessed!
So true Dale, “In the valley, He restores our soul!” We can grow closer to the Lord and learn so much about His ways when we lean on Him. “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:3-5. God knows what is best for us and we just have to trust Him even when we don’t understand. He will see you through this!!
I LOVE this, “Miracle Lady”!!! And so true!! Thank you for sharing this very important message!!
Such powerful message. Although I am going through some things in my life right now, I have grown closer to God and he has blessed me in so many other way throughout this. I’ve learned so much through out this journey.