This is a post about the matter of perspective. I am not looking for a debate, a correction, and most definitely not a comment from some who believes I personally attacked them (because that’s just simply not the case). I just want to share my thoughts…
On several occasions this past week, I have either had a discussion with God or one of my teammates about sickness. Why are all these hurting people in the world subjected to pain? Why do Christians experience such severe sickness and disease and not become miraculously healed when prayed for? Did God forget about them? All of these questions are asked at one point during your walk with Christ. The only truth that I can cling to is that God is in control and that He is a God of intention. He knows what He is doing and He does not ignore our cries for help. And often times He has a lesson for us to learn amidst our suffering.
I have fallen in love with idea of helping people beyond their hurting souls. On the mission field, I have done a lot of holding orphaned children, showing them love and attention they would otherwise not receive. I have met women who have been abused and neglected. I have heard their stories and prayed for their peace of mind. I have helped feed those who are hungry and clothe those who have nothing. It’s all necessity but one thing I have not been able to do is the one thing I desire most; to help ease their physical pain.
I have to tell you about Ntombi. I met her a week ago. She lives on the side of a mountain in a little grass hut. She is 35 and has two children. Ntombi has suffered severely from an open wound that will not seal itself. She has had it for 3 years now. Ntombi was once able to leave her home and function on her own. She is now crippled in her leg. Her muscles are tense. She is in pain as her wound often gets infected. She no longer is able to care for herself. She doesn’t walk on her own unless she has someone to spot her. She rarely leaves her house. Her brain function has slowly started to deteriorate. She no longer speaks in full sentences. It is heart breaking to see how she lives. All because here, in Swaziland, they don’t have the medical necessities. It just doesn’t seem fair, does it? That because these people are born in these places, beyond their control, that they suffer the way they do?
One visit with Ntombi and my world was wrecked. I cried and prayed and asked God why? If it was in His power to save and heal, why didn’t He do something to help her? And then it came to me. Not like a booming voice from Heaven or a letter that fell from the sky, but just a soft whisper only heard in my heart (as it so often is) that He is doing something about it. He sent me.
It was a very overwhelming moment and I am not ashamed to admit I cried all the way home. I realized I could help her. God put me in a position at one point in my life to work under such a caring doctor and nurse practitioner who love people. I witnessed something that for the first time in my life that I actually wanted myself; to have compassion in my heart for sick and hurting people and to do something with it. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe whole heartedly that there is an all-powerful God who cares enough about His people to orchestrate day to day life for His purpose. I have proof. He did it for me. He took a job that I got simply because of my gracious father and he used it to ignite a passion in my heart that I didn’t know I had. It’s really quite amazing to think about.
So here is my concluding thought. I have no basis to prove what I think, just a notion that I may be responding to a calling God has placed on my life. I pray often for others to receive healing from Christ. I pray that God calls their body into alignment according to His word. I confidently know that He is more than capable of healing them. I am even more confident that He hears my prayer and works when I don’t see it. But maybe He is asking me to take a step further. Maybe I am seeing these things because He wants to me use my God given talents to help them. The possibilities are endless when we see the needs of God’s people and we act on it. I know He has called me to go back to school. He is calling me to be a nurse practitioner. If I am obedient, He will send me to those places where healing is needed. He can use me to be His hands and feet.
What are you praying to God for? What is He calling you to do about it? Sometimes the very answers to the prayers that we pray is our obedience to be God’s hands and feet in the situation.
I am not saying that every person I ever pray for won’t receive healing because God has called me to action myself. But what I am presenting is that sometimes there is more to be done. Sometimes there is a call that needs to be answered. Sometimes, it’s not enough to just pray and walk away. Sometimes there is some fighting to be done. And sometimes that means you need to get your butt up off the chair and do something about it.
