Can I Be Healed?

Just yesterday I spoke with a dear friend, Beth. "Do you have time to talk?" "Sure, I am home alone and have nothing to do. What do you need?" began our conversation.

Beth had called me 4 days in a row.  Each day, she sounded very low, like she has been crying. She told me she just wanted to hear my voice. Yesterday when she called, I was on my way to Target so I told her I would buy her one of those cards that I could tape a message and give it to her, that way each time she needed to hear my voice she could push the button. Beth assured me it would not be the same. 

Day after day, I listened and encouraged her for about 5-10 minutes. She didn't feel she needed to share any details. Beth thought I may guess the person she was struggling with and didn't want to be talking about another. I appreciated that and told her I could still listen and encourage without knowing details or name.

Yesterdays call was different. When she called, she was ready to share....matter of fact, she was desperate. "I don't think I am going to make it," she stated repeatedly. "I don't think God can heal me. I am not going to make it."

I assured her with Truth. "Of course, God can heal you. His name is Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. Healing is what He does. It is His character to heal."

Gradually, she shared details of a difficult relationship. She gave no names and she didn't need to... before she started in deeply I shared with her that God has given me a wonderful gift. "I don't remember what people tell me. I have been told all kinds of deep secrets and I simply forget them. Not in an uncaring way, but in a way that I do not attached it to them. When the conversation is over the details are gone." This is such a blessing to be able to see people as they are today, not as they were before.

This helped her to know she was safe to share. A teacher of her child had left the class without a substitute two different days. Beth felt the board should be made aware of the situation. She was concerned for her child, and for the responsibility of the teacher to the class.

We are both licensed and certified teacher. We understand that teaching is a profession and a teacher has a responsibility to get a substitute if she is not in class. The tutor has been paid to teach and the children deserve a class, especially since they only go to the home school tutorial once a week. I could appreciate her frustration.

Beth shared that she had spoken openly in her car with her child about the situation and another parents' child was in the car. She decided to go to the board of the tutorial with her concern, and pleaded with the board to not tell that a parent had complained. The board discussed the situation with the teacher but also brought up that a parent had come to them. The student in the car that overhead her comments also went to the teacher and told her that Beth was frustrated with the situation.

The worst possible thing happen! This relationship carried history, and this teacher had a personality that did not forgive and forget. The teacher was all upset because she felt "her friend" turned on her by going to the board, instead of just taking to her. Beth was afraid to go to the teacher because the relationship had previously been toxic to her. It had shadows of past hurtful relationships, and it was condemning and controlling.

The simple situation had turned into a big major ordeal. The teacher's husband called Beth to see if they could meet as couples to see if the problems between the two "friends" could be resolved. Beth put up a safe boundary and said, "No." She has already been working through the death of her sister to cancer and a very painful relationship situation that occurred with her living sister during the illness of their dying sister. Beth has been in a deep valley for the past two years, and didn't need to carry any more burdens.

God lovingly gave me the right questions to ask, when she told me that she felt guilty. "What was in your heart when you went to the board? If it was clean, you have nothing to confess, but if you wanted the teacher to get in trouble, to get caught, you need to confess it to God. You don't have to ask God to forgive you for properly going to the board about the situation, but you need to confess to God your heart issues." Immediately, Beth started to pray aloud asking God to forgive her. She is a precious soul who loves the Lord. I could hear her genuine desire to have her heart right with God.

God gave me Bible verses to pray with her. (Philippians 2:14-15, Romans 12-12, Psalm 37:5) "Lord, I pray for my dear friend. Lead her to commit everything she does to You, Lord. May she trust You and know You will help her. She is to live a clean, innocent life, as your child, a child of God. In this dark world full of crooked and perverse people, let her life shine brightly for You before them. I pray, Lord, that she will be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer."

After the prayer, I could hear a real relief in her voice. I shared with her that in the Bible when God tells us to bear one another's burdens it can be two different ways. We are to be able to place our self along the side of our friends and stand up firm like a tomato stake helping to support the weight they are carrying. We are also to be able to offer to take the load of the burden on like we are a dump truck. After the person unloads onto us we are to carry the load away from them and take it to God. I offered both of these supports to her. Beth wanted me to carry with burden away, so I prayed to do this.

I thanked her for allowing me to minister. She shared how she was so grateful that I was available. I reminded her that God had just recently asked me to stop being in different ministry programs and to be available to minister when he brought people my way. Beth laughed a little and told me that she had been praying for me to not be doing so much. She felt God wanted me to stop being so busy. She confided that she only felt able to call since I was not so overwhelmed with pressures in my life.

This reconfirmed God's words to me a few weeks ago. It is good to not be too busy to be a listener, a comforter, and a friend.

Are you thinking that you may not make it? Do you believe that God can heal you?  Are you desperate enough to call out to Him, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord Who Heals? He is able, and willing. 

He has the Truth of His Holy Word, which He calls the Balm of Gilead.  His Word is medicine for your soul.  You need to allow God to apply it to your wounds. Jesus came to heal those who are sick, those who need the Great Physician.  

Do you need to be healed? If so, He is waiting right this minute for you to come to Him.