Monday, March 26, 2018

i'll never forget it as long as i live.

i was at counselling at lakeshore camp when the speaker called us up to pray for students who needed healing. i felt uncomfortable - the topic of healing made me feel that way back then (and sometimes still does) - but i had no choice; i was wearing a lanyard that read 'counsellor', and, well, he called up all of the counsellors.

i looked across the altar and felt drawn to this particular youth, went up to him, asked him what he needed healing from and he said his feet. curious as to what was wrong with them, i asked him, and he told me that he had flat feet and that they were very, very painful.

so i got down on the ground, laid hands on his feet and prayed with as much faith as i could muster up in that moment.

next thing you know, his foot re-formed in my hand, and truthfully, as much as i believed in what i was praying (and even more than that, who i was praying to), i didn't really expect that, and so i jumped back in disbelief.

next, we had this particular student stand in a bucket of water and then step onto some paper towel. had his feet have still been flat, his whole foot would have shown up on the paper towel, but it didn't; only his heel and the part where his toes started did! low and behold, he was, in fact, 'heeled' (sorry, had to), and i will never forget it for as long as i live!

but, there have been times where i have prayed for someone to be healed and have seen zero results, too. my parents being two of them. i prayed many prayers that my dad would get better and that the cancer that my filled my mom's body would disappear, and i prayed with a faith that once saw a healing occur, because healings occur.

but sometimes, they don't. at least, in the ways we expect them to. and i wrestled through this while i visited my uncle garry this past week who is fighting cancer and severe pneumonia simultaneously.

but even still, i couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he has outlasted every single one of his immediate family members (his wife, son, and brothers) and how broken his heart has been since. the most important healing is one of the heart and soul, after all. and sometimes, if i'm being honest, this changes how i pray.

jesus walked the earth healing people. he had the power to do that, and i believe he still does. but he also healed people's souls, and hearts, and promised that if we believe in him, and follow him, that there will come a day when we will receive our healing in full.

until then, although i do believe in physical healing (after all, i saw this happen right before my very own eyes) and will continue to pray for this when asked to/feel led to, i will continue to pray that God does what he does best: be present; that he would show up and surround my uncle in his hospital room and give him peace, be close to my sister as she searches for her lost pet, protect my friend and the beautiful baby in her womb as she's on bed rest, heal my friend's heart as she mourns the loss of her mom, give my family in regent park the strength to keep going, and the list goes on.

whatever that looks like for you today, whatever you're going through, physical or not, and in whichever way you need him to be, my prayer for YOU today is this: that Jesus would be near.

AMEN.

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