I Asked God to Heal Me but He Didn’t
A great joy of my job as a nurse is witnessing and contributing to healing first hand. The thing is, sometimes the healing doesn’t come. That’s when my job gets really tough. Telling a husband his wife is about to take her last breath, or calling a child in the middle of the night to say, “Your mom is no longer with us is both a privilege and a soul-crushing burden.
Several questions undoubtedly settle in the pit of my stomach—why? Why this one? Why this time? Why couldn’t they be saved? I think most of us have experienced a time when the healing didn’t come and the prayers weren’t answered they way we had hoped. Some of us are experiencing it now and the rest will surely experience it in the future.
I’m not talking about disappointments that turn into blessings, like losing your car keys only to find them next to a twenty-dollar bill you forgot you had. No, what I’m talking about are the times that leave you gutted and in a heap of devastation. What do we do when we are at our lowest of lows? How do we find healing when the healing didn’t come?
Sweet lady, there are so many answers to that burdensome and difficult question and they are all summed up in one word: Jesus. Having both lived and witnessed this type of pain and despair, I understand that sometimes we just need some relief from what life is raining down on us. Jesus wants to be that relief, even when it feels like he doesn’t. So, here is what I think God’s word is telling us to do in these times of pain, suffering, and hopelessness:
1. Be humble. .Accept that God is mighty, so you don’t have to be. Say this out loud, repeatedly if necessary, “God, you are mighty and I am not.”
2. Tell him all about it, because he loves you. Tell him about your pain, your anger, your disappointment, and your despair. He wants to hear it and he is waiting. Tell him.
3. Tell someone else. Find community. We are all suffering in one way or another. There is a woman out there who can help you and another woman who needs your help. Find a church, go to a support group, or phone a friend. Don’t do it alone.
4. Resist staying in the pit. Satan would love us to be defined by our tragedies, to become buried so deep that we don’t even want to try to get out. God wants to restore, establish, strengthen, and support us especially in these times. He wants to lift us up. Ask him to show you the way out, the way to healing through his grace.
Even though we may never understand why our healing didn’t come in certain situations, we can still find healing for our broken hearts. We can find comfort in the love of a God who knows what it is to suffer, because he suffered on our behalf, long before we were even born. We can find peace in knowing that very same God will ultimately provide complete healing for his children in heaven. And, the promises in this passage tell us we can find relief even from the worst of pains. Comfort, peace, and relief is available from a God just waiting for us to ask for it. That sounds like healing to me.
1 Peter 5:6-10. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.
Personal reflection
1. What do you need healing from? If you don’t feel you need healing now, what has God healed you of in the past?
2. In the middle of a difficult situation it is sometimes impossible to see what good could come from it. In my life, I have seen God use the death of a loved one to mend broken relationships. Looking back on your life, name one good thing that has come from a hard time in your life.
3. What can you do to use what God has healed you of to help others who are currently struggling?
Goal setting and sharing (Abstract Conceptualization):
List 3 goals that you would like to accomplish (at home, at work, with family, etc) that will allow you to live out your purpose in regards to _______ (the topic you are writing about):
1.
2.
3.
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