The Mystery of God’s Ways
I hope you realize by now that I don’t have all the answers, but I do seek after the Lord by studying His Word and investigating His truth.
Hard Question: Why are some healings instantaneous and some manifest slowly over time? With my own eyes, I’ve seen God move in various ways.
My husband Jeremy experienced an overnight deliverance from a lifetime dependence on cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol he used to cope with his racing mind. He asked Jesus to rescue him, and God healed his mind that very night. He knew true peace for the first time in nearly 50 years of life. The freedom he received was so profoundly life-changing that he will never go back. Stepping out of death into life or dark into light, is like that.
I, on the other hand, was healed from crippling shyness that drove my life since childhood over a 3-year period. This heart-pounding silence drove me to seek a college degree which didn’t require public speaking. Through the Freedom Fighters ministry, I learned to lean in hard on God’s truth of who I am created to be and His promises. It was a long, arduous truth walk not unlike the Hinds Feet in High Places allegory (Hind Feet in High Places by Hannah Hurnard) which I intentionally practiced every day. My mind came to believe that I was redeemed by the blood of Jesus to be an ambassador, priest, and king on the earth, filled with the Holy Spirit, submitted to the sovereignty of Father God. Without asking for it, I was delivered of shyness and filled with boldness so I could walk out this reality.
I prayed for other people’s marriages to heal, and God moved in miraculous ways. All the while, my own marriage was slipping away and there was no prayer of faith big enough to save it.
It was about choosing to trust in the Lord and His love for me.
In the pain.
In the tears.
In the waiting.
In the frustration.
In the loneliness.
My story didn’t look like other people’s stories of healing. I studied and saw that Jesus healed different ways in different circumstances. Sometimes their faith made them well (Matthew 9:22) and sometimes Jesus laid His hands on them more than once (Mark 8:22-26). I saw that sometimes He was hindered from healing because of unbelief (Matthew 13:58). Sometimes sin was an issue and forgiveness needed to proceed the work of God (Matthew 9:1-8). And there was the time Jesus delayed a healing for a bigger miracle (John 11).
I learned to beware of generalizations when it came to the work of the Spirit. I decided to let God be God.
There are two life verses for me:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
And we know that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
When I pray for people who are hurting, I pray over believer and non-believer in the name of Jesus, fully expecting instantaneous healing and deliverance. I will always do this because Jesus is the Healer, and I am His ambassador. I speak openly (and now freely), telling others of who Jesus is and what He’s done for me and for them. (Isaiah 53: 5, 61:1-3, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:12). I offer to open up my schedule and get together on a regular basis to study the Book of John and grow together.
Let’s move forward boldly doing the things He’s commanded us to do and see what the Spirit of God brings to earth through our obedience.
Dear One, be hindered no longer, in Jesus’ name!
