Each day we spend 6 to 8 hours out on the streets of Cali evangelizing, sharing the story of Jesus. Some days are harder than others. Some days are too good for words. Today was a mixture of both.
The Bible is filled with stories of Jesus healing people. I think if I were to take a survey of what words come to mind when you think of Jesus, the word healer would be repeated. It’s one of the many things we approach Jesus for. I mean, He literally raised a man from the dead. He is the ULTIMATE healer. In Matthew 9:27-31, He healed 2 blind men. Mark 1:40-45, healing of the leper. The list can go on forever.
But what happens when He doesn’t heal someone? Does He love you less? Did you not pray the right prayer? Did you not have enough faith? It’s hard to wrap our brain around the idea of Jesus not healing. I hope this story of Nubia encourages you to see that it’s okay if Jesus doesn’t heal everyone. That there is still victory in our death.
Today I spent time with a 68 year old Colombian woman named Nubia whose husband wants nothing to do with Jesus or Christians. She, thankfully, wants more, more of Jesus. So she let us come sit on her porch and share with her the Good News.
As we spoke with her I came to sense that she deeply desired Jesus. That though she was full of wrinkles and aging marks her soul was childlike for the Lord. It was a calm, receptive spirit. We asked if she needed specific prayer over anything and she shared with us that she was diagnosed with cancer in her nose, which was spreading to her cheeks and quickly to her chin. Her leg was also infected and gave her much pain. In that moment tears welled up in my eyes because I heard the Lord say He wasn’t going to heal her. Not because He didn’t want to but because it wasn’t part of the plan He had for her.
Tears flowed from my face as I began to pray for this stranger who was not going to get healing but that didn’t stop me from pleading and begging the Lord to heal her body. To have her body not ache anymore and for the cancer to leave. As I held her soft, tiny, sweet hands I wept because I was praying a prayer that was never going to come to her. I balled because I knew what was to come but how do you tell someone that Jesus isn’t going to heal them? This woman was entering into a season of preparing for death, but how could I tell her that? I’m supposed to be bringing good news to her not this.
So I kept silent the remainder of the time because I didn’t want those words to flow from my mouth. I didn’t want them to be true for her. I don’t choose that ending for her. I wanted God to heal her so badly in hopes that she could see how great a Father He is. That He brings healing when she needs it. I wanted God to heal her to prove how great of God He was.
The thing is though, God doesn’t need to heal us to prove that He is good. It’s just who He is. He is good because it’s His character, it’s in His nature.
As I sat there thinking of how to handle this the Lord told me that her life AND death were going to be a testimony to her family, to her husband. That her death was going to bring her family to Him. That He doesn’t just get people with healing He can get them whenever and however He chooses because He is God and He knows the specific way in which to win us back. Through her death her family was going to see salvation. I don’t know in detail how but I do know that she will be an example to her family and through her they WILL see salvation.
He reminded me that death can be victorious. He brought me back to the cross, where death first became victorious. How He died in order to win us back from sin, how He was victorious in His death so why couldn’t she be victorious in hers?
He was right. She needed to know the truth even if it’s not the traditional good news of healing. He had something else for her because He knows what she needs better than I do and I needed to be okay with that. I am meant to share the good news, death usually isn’t part of that but this time it was because she was going to be joining her creator soon and that is the best kind of news.
As we were beginning to leave, I grabbed her hand, looked into her gentle brown eyes and said, “Don’t be afraid of death because it is bringing you closer to the gates of Heaven. If you don’t receive healing, don’t be afraid because this means you will soon be getting your heavenly body. A body that is free from all cancer, all infection, all pain. Soon you will be dancing with Jesus, just like a daughter dances with her father. Don’t be afraid.”
Her response….”Hallelujah, Amen.”
It was simple, gentle, and in a sense ready. Nubia was ready to dance with her maker. And Her maker is ready to dance with her too.
Your World Racer
Andy
