The Secret to Being Healed

“Praise the Lord, O my soul; and my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” Psalm 103:1-5 NIV

This week at my school I am leading staff devotions.  I issued a challenge on Monday to ask God for the big miracle.  You know the one that you’re afraid to pray because you are sure it will never get answered.  Here on Living Bellissima I want to issue the same challenge to you.  Ask God for what you think is impossible.  Go ahead, be brave, have courage, and go before the throne of your God.

Look at our scripture for today.  David is writing this to himself, to his soul.  He is reminding himself of who God is.  God forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases, redeems us from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires with good things.  Why?  So that our youth is renewed like the eagles.  That is your God!  That is the God who I’m challenging you to go to.

I have been praising God that I haven’t had any arthritis pain since May.  I believe the Lord has healed me.

You may ask if I did anything special to be healed.  Did I pray a certain prayer?  Did I follow some kind of “have enough faith” formula?  The answer is a resounding, NO.  I did nothing more than what you might do when you ask God for a miracle.

I kept believing He would.  I’m not saying I have super faith, no, just faith to know that my God who created the entire universe could heal me.

I read through the gospels to build my faith.  I read about the many miracles Jesus performed.  I noticed He didn’t always do the same thing.  He spoke, He touched people, His garment was touched, and He even used mud.  I wonder if He did this on purpose so that we would not think healing comes from our efforts or from some formula, but rather we would know that healing comes from Him in His time and on His terms.

This is not the first time the Lord has healed me.  I suffered with endometriosis pain from about 18 until 38.  I have had cysts burst.  I’ve been doubled over in pain that I could not stand up.  I have had serious pain.  I would beg the Lord to heal me.  When I was 30 the doctor talked to me about having a hysterectomy.  I did not want to do that at 30.  So I continued to suffer in pain.  Finally, at the age of 38, the Lord completely healed me.

Kurt had heard a teaching on healing.  He shared what he learned with me.  He asked me what I talked to the Lord about during communion.  I frowned and responded, “My sin.”  Sort of like, duh, what else do you talk about with the Lord when you are holding the cracker and juice?  He encouraged me to speak the scriptures about healing and ask the Lord to heal me.

That Sunday, as I took communion, I humbly went before the Lord.  Cracker and juice in hand, I prayed, “Lord, you say by your stripes we are healed.  I’m asking as I sit here today, holding these reminders of what you did for me, that you would heal me.  I believe you did not just die on the cross to redeem me from my sins but to bring about healing to my body.”

We went home and I still had pain.  That night I went to bed.  The next morning when I opened my eyes I noticed the absence of pain.  I got up, took a shower, made lunches for school, ate breakfast, went to work, taught all day, came home, and made dinner all without pain.  I couldn’t believe it.  After 20 years of chronic pain, it was gone.

Today, 4 years later, no pain!  God completely healed me.  I told my doctor who wasn’t sure what to think.  Every summer when I go for my annual exam I make sure to remind her that I’m pain free.

When I first had symptoms of arthritis I didn’t want to go to the doctor.  I kept thinking God would heal me just like He had healed me from endometriosis.  But God had a different plan.  I took the medical route and tried all kinds of medicine until I found one that allowed me to somewhat function.

Everyday I begged God to heal me.  I sought Him during communion.  The elders from church anointed me with oil and prayed for healing.  I had someone tell me I didn’t have enough faith.  But I did.  I already had been healed once, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God could heal me.  Yet, He chose not to for 3.5 years.

Then this past May, after school got out, I noticed my knees did not hurt.  In March I started fasting for the first time in my life.  I’m sure there will be a future blog post about fasting.  I did fast for healing, but God did not heal me while I did that fast.  I cannot tell you the exact date the healing happened.  I just know that one day in May I thought to myself, I haven’t had pain the last few days.

That led me to start walking in the mornings.  I felt like the crippled person who was told, “Take up your mat and walk.”  Every morning, I took up my mat and walked around my neighborhood.  And with each step I praised the Lord.

Even now, 3 months later, every morning on my walk, I praise the Lord I can walk.

I share these stories with you to encourage you.  I want to fan the flame of your faith.  You may have been asking the Lord for something for 20 years, don’t give up.  Keep reminding yourself of who your God is.

I titled this post “The Secret to Being Healed” because I want to share the secret that I have learned.  The secret is God will heal you when He will heal you.  It’s in His hands.  Don’t believe the enemy’s lies that it is dependent on you.  It’s not!  It’s dependent on Him.

Instead of trying to do some work on your own.  Put your dependence on Him.  Immerse yourself in His Word.  Praise Him.  Talk to Him.  If you want to work at something, work at investing in your relationship with Him.

Psalm 107:19-22 says, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.  He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.  Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.”