I have a Sonshine friend who uses a wheelchair for mobility. She wondered why Jesus only healed a few people in the Bible, why not everyone? Her prayer life is rich, but sometimes she gets turned her off to her religion, as she wondered why after much prayer she herself was not healed. But then she has grown to learn that healing comes in many ways.Maybe her healing was letting go of the hurt, the resentment, the not accepting her situation of the wheelchair and allowing the healing peace of Christ to enter her live. After she did that, she came to realize that the stories of Jesus were more than a few miracles for a few people, but a way of life, a relationship with Christ that daily allows her to accept and to be free and “comfortable in her own skin."
Sometimes she wishes she could wake up in the morning without the help of her home care aide and get dressed in no certain order. For with wearing leg braces, she had to put her socks on first, then her leg brace, then lace up all the straps on the brace, pull her pants over the leg brace, etc. A very tedious affair.
But in her dream, she would run out of the room with one shoe on, one shoe off down the stairs without hanging onto the rail, outside, skipping and hoping trying to get the other shoe on. She would run as fast as she could and let the breeze flow through her hair. She would jump as high as she could just to feel what it was like to be off the ground. She wished for what the rest of us often take for granted.
All of us at one point or another wish to be free from something. We pray, we beg, we try any thing, but then reality sinks in and we know our wish will be answered. Healing comes in many forms, and it just might be the ability to live with the reality of life and then to be comfortable in our own skins.
The Lord prays for us as we reflect: “But the needy will never be forgotten, nor will the hope of the afflicted ever fade.” (Psalm 9:19)
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are afraid to face their limitations or go into shock when the doctor tells us that we must walk with a brace. May your healing give us the strength to be comfortable in our own skins.
