Day Eight: By His Wounds You Have Been Healed

After the VBS ended but before dinner we had a little bit of down time. Chris, Sloane, Amanda, Robbyn and I were sitting around talking, and Sloane mentioned that she was feeling really sick. Chris suggested that we pray healing over her. So we did. I have a really hard time with praying for healing. It is one of those areas that tests my faith. I know God has and can heal, but catch myself believing he won't because I have seen it happen so infrequently. After praying for Sloane nothing happened, and I can't say I was surprised.

Robbyn mentions her knee had been bothering her all day and asked if we could pray for that as well. We pray, she tests out her knee, and it's better. We pray for Amanda who had a really bad sinus headache, and later that night as we worshipped it went away. Chris realizes I didn't ask for prayer (I had a really bad cold the whole time we were there) and he tells me to let them pray for me.

Even after seeing Robbyn being healed I was still pretty sure nothing would happen, but decided to let God take what little amount of faith I had in his power to heal and run with it. They prayed and I still felt about the same, but realize that I was able to talk and to swallow without my throat feeling like it was on fire. We were all amazed at what God had done and continued to pray, prayers of thanksgiving this time.

During dinner my thoughts went back and forth from gratefulness to be able to eat without pain and frustration because God chose to heal me. During our time in India we asked God to heal countless times. I felt as if I could list tons of healings we had asked of him that were far more important than my sore throat. Healing from cancer, healing from HIV, healing from leprosy. In my mind God had not come through for these people.

I kept struggling with it until we started worshipping together after everyone's feet had been washed. I was reminded of the main things I could tell God had been trying to teach me on the trip. The first was the lesson of his relentless love. He loves because of who he is, in his own time. For his glory. The other lesson was to celebrate because of who he has proven himself to be over and over.

I realized there was no way I could answer why he chose to heal me. I could not explain it, but I could accept it. I could worship him because of it. So I sang louder, worshipped as wholeheartedly as I could. Not because I felt I had to, not because it was required of me. But as a response to how good God has been to me.