Chapter 5 ~ Heal me

If you are like me, this isn't your favorite chapter.

If you are not like me, you may have thought to yourself, "you bet Lord, heal away."

But, despite this chapter being a challenge for me, Max does the idea of healing justice.

Miracle.

What an interesting word.

We use it when we find our keys as well as when someone's health is restored.

We claim it when the car wreck is avoided or when the person survives the horrific wreck.

We use the word miracle when the lazy child (or lazy husband) gets up on a Saturday morning and mows, trims and rakes the yard.

I am sure you can come up with some other instance when the word miracle is used.

I am the last person to tell another person what a "miracle" is.

Webster's Dictionary tackles what I am unwilling to do. It defines a miracle as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs."

In all my years of walking alongside people with life threatening, life taking, and chronic disease, I have yet to see an instantaneous miraculous healing.

I have seen some miracles in the life of a patient who despite the medical professions bleak diagnosis, the medicine worked better than expected. Or where the tumor was shrinking or had gone away over time. Max refers to this as "gradual healing."

Now, I am not stating this for an argument. You may have witnessed an at the moment, powerful, body modifying, immediate restoration and amazing on the spot miracle. I believe you. No need to write me a long email to convince me.

I just haven't.

I have seen what Brian Jones, one of my other favorite authors, calls "the miracle of perseverance." (from his book, "Second Guessing God")

I am leaning into Jesus for just such a miracle.

I've had something wrong with me most of my life. I've fought fatigue, pain, sinus, allergies, stomach issues, low thyroid, blood pressure, and a whole host of secondary issues caused by these maladies since my mid 20's.

I know, now you feel sorry for me. Don't. (actually you probably don't and 25% of you may have had a similar experience)

What I find interesting about my journey is that God has been more faithful to do a miracle in my heart because of the weakness in my body than to rescue me from the tension and stress of my failing flesh. I would say that I am on the track Max calls "ultimate healing".

For you it may have been another section of this chapter, but for me, this part speaks to my heart. And I have to say, louder than it ever has. I am hoping for an increasing volume change as I allow Him to work in my heart.

When Max writes... "If you are still waiting for healing, trust him. Your suffering is your sermon...God is using Jim to inspire people like me. God will do the same with you. He will use your struggle to change others...Or he may use your struggle to change you"... Now I can find my Savior in those words.

Once again, I don't want to wrestle with you and your own experience. I do want to encourage those, who for reasons only God knows, are on this slow path to glory and all the while God is adjusting our behavior, our attitude and our influence.

How... By putting us in the place to trust him with our weakness.

Paul, the man whose penmanship was questionable, writes... "If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.

My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." (II Corinthians 12:6-12 ~ The Message)

These words are not his only words of encouragement Paul writes for us "ultimate healing" journeyers. Look over his shoulder as he pens... "Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life....Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." (Philippians 4:6-7, 11-13 MSG)

James, the brother of Jesus (ok, half brother for you detail people) writes these words... "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (James 1:2-4, MSG).

I can say that this verse is one of the heaviest verses I quote to myself in the middle of a health crisis.

But, as one who progressively living in the "ultimate healing" camp, I am grasping that God wants to walk with me, not heal me.

I would imagine at this point, if God did heal me immediately, I'd be a jerk. Paul was aware of his weakness in this area. I am not Paul, I may be more inclined to fall into arrogance that he was. Maybe not. God knows

Maybe you wouldn't and maybe you're having trouble with what you think is my lack of faith.

Fair enough.

But....I would argue, it's not a lack of faith, but what I consider a growing presence of perseverance.

That's the most humbling thing about this journey. I find myself in and out of contentment less and at this minute embracing more steadily the ongoing shaping of my faith.

Max says it better than me... "For two years I have been asking God to remove the pain in my writing hand. Even as I write these words, , I feel stiffness in my thumb, fingers, forearm, and shoulder....doctors chalk it up to thirty-plus books written in longhand...my repeated motion has restricted my movement...So I do my part...But most of all I pray." (Pg 54)

Those words are followed by this continued thought, "Better said, I argue." (pg 54)

Do you argue? I do... Probably not as well as Max, but I do my fair share of "Lord, don't you know...".

I feel like I could go on for pages about the times I've argued, but, it's not productive. The fact that I do is a fact. The fact of the content of my arguments are better held between me and God.

Max finishes this chapter with the thought I wish he would have started with, but that's probably why he has written Best Sellers that have sold millions and been on the best sellers lists for years. Max writes, "He will heal you , my friend. I pray he heals you instantly. He may heal your gradually. But this much is sure: Jesus will heal us all ultimately. Wheelchairs, ointments, treatments and bandages are confiscated at the gateway to heaven. God's children will once again be whole."

One more in the books...

One more chance to share and grow...

As iron sharpens iron... let it be...

Till next time...