Healing Anna

About a year ago my sweet sister sent me this message. But first let me tell you about her. She is 10 years younger than me and is one of my heroes. She has lived with MS for years and still works full time, is raising two wonderful children with her husband, and taking care of our mom. She does this with a vibrant faith in God and an uplifting inspiring outlook on everything. This is what she wrote:

  “I have had a question that has been pulling at me for quite a few months now involving healing. you know my health issues. lately i have been feeling as if i am not putting my faith where it should rest. i have been feeling that God is telling me that i am to "step out of the boat" and have faith. problem is it is scary and other people think it is not right for me to stop what i am doing and just depend on God to heal. i am at a crossroads and i don't know what to do. Other people don’t understand my conflict  i am unsure if it is a real spiritual pull or a subconscious detesting of my health state. i know this message probably makes no sense but i just had to ask. love you. take it easy.”

And this was my answer:

  I am humbled that you asked me this. This is a big question. All I can do is tell you what God has done in my life and the truths I know about Him.

I dont know if you remember that I had extreme high blood pressure when I was 18. I was on medication to save my life for more than 6 years. I was on it the whole time I was pregnant with my oldest. I began asking the same questions you asked after the first year.
I had people tell me,

 “God can heal you.”  “You don’t need to be sick.” “You need to believe God will heal you.”

I was scared to death to think about living my life outside of what the doctors were telling me to do. (You have to remember I had had two major surgeries before I was 7 years old. Sickness and Doctors were a way of life. My body let me down all the time.) So finally in 1988 I prayed and prayed about being healed. I didn’t tell anyone, I just took my pill bottle as soon as I got it from the store and wrote across the label     PRAY. 

And I did, every time I took a pill (3x per day) I would take it with prayer, thanking God for healing me. After 2 years of that and lower and lower BP readings the doctor said you don’t need this anymore. So I stopped the pills in June of 1990 and have never needed them for high BP since.

(Please note that I did not stop taking my meds, I do not believe God has given us medical advancement for no reason, if the medicine is integral to the treatment of the illness then DO NOT stop taking it until you have talked to your doctor and are sure it is absolutely the right thing to do.)

Did God heal me?
Did my prayers have anything to do with it?

The Bible says in James 5: 14-16 " Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

So I guess the answer is yes, 

God did heal me, 

                          by my faithful prayers... 

                                                           by His great mercy.

I have had other times of healing in my family but I wont go into them all here. Suffice it to say God is faithful and good.

But, I also know of a couple who had a 3 year old little girl whom they prayed for over and over, who died. And a friend whose 5 year old son died of brain cancer. Another whose step dad was killed by a doctor's mistake during a common testing procedure.

Does that mean God is not faithful? 

Does that mean God is not good? 

Does God heal everyone? 

Why not?

I dont know.

So if I were to try to answer your question I would say this: It isn’t about you. 

As much as you want to be free of this, healing is about God's glory and power, not yours. I know you aren’t looking for either of those things (power or glory), but make 100% sure that you examine your heart before you pray these prayers of outlandish faith.

Can God heal you? Do you have the faith to believe that? 

What if He doesn't? 

What.  If.   He.   Does.   Not.

Does that mean you didn’t have enough faith, didn’t pray long, hard, properly, enough? That you aren't good enough, don’t deserve His healing? 

You have to ask yourself the hard questions here, because so much is at stake.

 Basically, what I am saying is this:

Is your relationship with Jesus strong enough that if He doesn’t heal you, you two are still in love?

And if He does heal you it wouldn't make any difference in your relationship either, because you are so in love?

Do you see what I mean? Healing and miracles are not about us, they are about Him, His glory, His power, His Sovereignty. After all, your body is only a costume you are wearing for a short time. He is much more concerned with your eternity than this mortal coil.

I have a friend whose healing I have been praying for, for over 20 years now. They struggle with depression, addictions. I have wept and pleaded. I see improvement some days, some days are nightmares. They take meds for some of this and their faith has been really beaten up through this struggle. But we keep believing and hoping and pressing on.

To be perfectly honest as I typed this I have been crying and pleading with God for your healing, sweet sister. I am reckless in my prayer for you, I have nothing to lose. It breaks me to think about what you have to go through. I want with all my heart to be bold and pray great sweeping healing change into your life. But I need to remember God loves you infinitely more than I do. He has this in control. He has you in the palm of His hand and He is working in you to make you more like Him.

I hope this helps. God knows I wish I could be there and look you in the eye and tell you this. I hope this message will do for now.

That is what I wrote her about a year ago.

Post Script: As of today Anna gave me this update,

“You should also know that as of December of last year I stopped taking the medication (only on thyroid meds and vitamins) and I feel 100% better. I have had very few minor symptoms and not one relapse. I am thanking God for everyday because without him, I would be miserable. You can quote me and yes, it is a God thing. Odds are I should have had a relapse by now and God has kept me going stronger than before. I have been helping teach Lent classes, Reya's ATG group, I have had the energy to stay up and hang out with Russell and I even went to DC all day for RJ's robotics expo, then we went to the air n space museum and then Ben's chili bowl and I wasn't relying heavily on caffeine to keep me alert.”

Did you catch that? It’s “a God thing…God has kept me going stronger than before”

To Him be the Glory. Thank you Lord.