Healing

2 Jan

“Your healing is not a straight line.”  ~ Henri Nouwen

Nouwen was a very holy man and a very wise man.  Sometimes, the wisest things can be said in the quickest ways possible.  I don’t know what can be more concise than today’s quote.  Our healing, indeed, is not a straight line.  That can frustrate most, if not all, of us.

We are, after all, a people who like immediate gratification.  We do not like waiting for anything.  When we go to the store, we want to be waited upon immediately.  When we go to the Post Office, we do not want to wait in lines.  When at the doctor’s office, we abhor waits to see the doctor as well as additional testing while we wait for a diagnosis.

We tend to let God know that in the way we pray and in the manner we associate with Him.  Our visits to Him tend to be quick.  We let God know what we want and then we go on our way again.  When we don’t get what we asked for immediately, we get irked at God and often tell others that God isn’t listening to us.

When we ask God for healing, we expect immediacy as well.  However, a broken spirit is not something that we developed overnight and a broken spirit cannot be fixed overnight just as a physical illness cannot be fixed overnight.  We know that some illnesses are never fixed.  They remain with us for the remainder of our lives and we have to learn to deal with their consequences.  It might frustrate us but the quicker we learn to tend to symptoms the better off we will be.

We have just gone through a wretched year.  2020 was hardly kind to us.  Many people lost loved ones to the virus.  Many others lost jobs or have businesses that are in peril.  We have been wounded in a number of ways and are in need of healing.  That healing will not happen overnight.  However, if we turn to the Lord and ask for His healing love, He will grant it to us in His own way and in His own time.

Trust that God is with you this day and helping you to heal from the ills that may drag you down.

FAITH ACTION:  Pray to the Lord for the healing — physical, emotional, spiritual — that you may need and ask for patience to wait while He helps you.