Fridays on Faith

FAITH. BELIEF. HOPE.

And Jesus said to her, "daughter your faith has healed you"
Mark 5:34

I don't even know how to begin the next part of this story I promised many months ago. The part of the story that is, by the way, the most important, the most critical, THE exclusive reason for my healing and recovery.

My first encounter came on a November night. The pain was becoming horrible. Although I hadn't yet seen a specialist, the tests were pointing to an incurable autoimmune disorder. The fear of the type of future I would have was gripping. I went into my bed early because the pain over-rode my desire to stay awake.

I flipped open my bible randomly and immediately saw the heading, "Hezekiah's Illness". So I figured, well, this may very well be worth reading and perhaps God has heard my cry, my plea to please, please speak into my heart about what on earth is going on and what is going to happen to me. Perhaps, right? Because it doesn't always happen that I flip it open and find something that is earth shattering or relatable to me, or so i think, at the time. Sometimes, I just sit there and go....what? But this night was NOT one of those moments. Thank you Jesus!

I won't go through the entire story because you can do that by googling 2 Kings 20 1-5. The jist of the story is, he was told he would not recover from this illness, he prayed and asked God to heal him, God sent word that he was going to heal him, and then guess what happened...........GOD HEALED HIM.

So, I did not take that lightly. I took that as God reassuring me that he WOULD HEAL ME.

And I know that there are many, many wonderful characterstics we can attribute to God and his son Jesus, but the ones that resound with me for this point of my story is that there is a very important moment in the bible where Jesus is referred to as The Rider who is called FAITHFUL AND TRUE.

So, this non-audible voice I am hearing from through this specific scripture, on that night in November is above all things...
FAITHFUL and TRUE.

Now that's something we can take to the bank, folks.

What a pure relief to my heart and soul.

But then I had to wake up the next morning. Still in pain. Still wondering why is this happening and now that I know God has told me he will heal me, WHEN will you heal me dear Lord?

The weeks and months went on. Many prayers continued to be raised. The weeks and months still went on. With pain. In fact, not only would the pain NOT GO AWAY, it would get worse. And I would get confirmation from the specialists that I did infact have an incurable arthritis that would not go away-according to science.......and the pharmaceutical companies, who just so happen to fund a lot of the science that supports the use of those dangerous,expensive drugs. Ahem, don't get me started there.

Anyway, point is.....there was a lot of time in between the promise and the promise fulfilled. There were moments when my mind started drifting to doubt. But my heart. My heart held the hope of the promise. During those months following and during the process of healing, I would get another earth-shattering, knock you out of your socks, leave you in total disbelief, confirmation of God's presence, total control and eventual fulfilled promise of healing. Sounds werid to some of you doesn't it?
Well, it was weird to me too! But remember, the Rider....he is called FAITHFUL AND TRUE. Have you ever really considered what those two words mean? If you sit and ponder that for a moment, it might shock you. Consider that nothing and no one on this earth is capable of being those things fully. You might run across some wonderful wonderful people in this world, but there is never a chance in this lifetime that one person can fully be those things. But there is ONE. One dude who came to offer us something different than anything or anyone else on this earth. He is the Rider. And he is called FAITHFUL AND TRUE.

Now that, my friends, is who I want fighting my battles. That's who I want going out ahead of me.

So, you must, must, must stay tuned for the next part of this most important part of the story of my healing.

In the meantime, if you have been following this Fridays on Faith section of my blog, you know what to expect here. Another inspirational video and song. A song that you can just plop me right in the middle of. A song that maybe you can relate to. Or a song that maybe you hope to relate to. Maybe you too are in some type of a difficult battle. An ordeal. Then listen to this and really cue into these words, not only from the song....but from the book he wrote to us.

"cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you"
"by his stripes....our spirit is renewed"
and
"hold on to what's being held out"



more on those stripes, and more on the promise next time.