Throwback to our last week in Honduras. It was late at night just as we were all starting to get ready for bed when pastor Gregorio, kinda frantically, asked me and a couple of other teammates to come inside. I stepped inside the living room, gathered a couple of other teammates from our bedroom and sat down next to Keidry and her mother.
Keidry is Pastor’s seven year old granddaughter. She’s bubbly, always full of boldness and bursting with energy. At that moment she laid limp in her mothers arms. She had been sniffling with a cold earlier that day but still seemed fine. At that moment she had a fever and her heart was racing. She’d barely open her eyes and when asked questions her responses were so weak. A far cry from the talkative, attention seeking child we’d all grown to love.
They asked us to pray for her, and honestly I was filled with concern but at the same time with peace. Earlier that night one of my teammates had voiced her desire to have someone sick come to church that night so that they could be healed. I saw Keidry and my first thought was, “it’s time.”
As her family prepared to take her to the hospital, I laid my hand on her chest and began to pray. I prayed for her heart to slow, for her fever to break, for her rest that night. That whatever her body was fighting would be remedied in Jesus name. As we continued on I literally felt her heartbeat slowing.
Once we finished praying the nurses on our team united to come up with an effective treatment. She took a cool shower and was given more medicine (the correct dose) to break the fever.
I have to admit, even though I FELT the heart rate change, I doubted whether our efforts would be in vain. Within probably 20 minutes Keidry came into our room and gave us each a big, strong hug and thanked us for praying for her. She felt cool to the touch and was, I’d say, 95% of the way back to her normal self. IN 20 MINUTES. I’m no medical expert but I’m pretty sure a cool shower and a little bit of medicine wouldn’t have THAT much of an effect. We’re talking, limp to vibrant in that 20 minutes. The next day she was back to normal and shared her testimony at our final church service with Cristo Centro!
(Photo Cred- Emma Donahue)
Honestly, healing is something that I’ve always been quick to pray shallowly over people who are sick. I believe that the Lord still miraculously heals and has the power to do so whenever He wants. At the same time I think there’s a disconnect. I think I still have more questions than answers when it comes to this part of God’s power.
If the Lord heals then why does it always seem to me that He chooses not to?
If He can miraculously heal then why does it so often seem like He chooses to heal slowly over time?
Does He even still heal people miraculously?
What would a miraculous healing even look like?
What did the miraculous healings in the Bible ACTUALLY look like?
For me, I’ve always taken healings in the Bible at face value. As times when Jesus just said something or touched someone and they were completely restored instantaneously (which I’m sure is totally possible and may have happened) but that view of healing has been challenged for me in some ways. Healing over time is still healing.
A part of my teammate, Jessica’s testimony is that she was healed from a back injury. After the healing she still had pain the next day, but she continued to pray through the pain and fully believe that she had already been healed. It’s hard for me to think of healing in that way but I’m realizing it’s something I never really gave much thought. I’m excited to see how the Lord continues to shape my view of healing and uses me and those around me in that capacity.
The Bible tells us that we’ve been given the power to do even more than Jesus did through the Holy Spirit. I still don’t really grasp what that means or the level of power that entails but I’d challenge you to wrestle with this question too.
Why don’t we, while we have the spirit that can heal, not even try to use that power to glorify God? And what other ways have we minimized God’s power to work through us?
Dad, I’m good (:
