Day 6 was Monday and is our day off but things happen anyway. We went to Costco with our daughter and her husband to pick up a few things. At the checkout Bonnie asked the cashier if she was well or had any pain in her body. She said she did have pain in her abdomen which the doctors thought could be appendicitis but were unsure. Bonnie asked her if she could pray for her and she said, 'yes'. After Bonnie prayed she asked the young lady how she was. 'Better,' she said. 'Well, what is the pain level at now?' asked Bonnie. She said on a scale of 1 - 10 she was at a 2. So Bonnie prayed again and she said the pain was gone. She was quite stunned and said she would be going to church on Wednesday.
Day 7 was different. We felt like all hell was coming against us. The local neighbourhood watch newsletter had an article encouraging people to watch out for faith healers, etc,.. It was like something leapt on us and we were so irritable. We went to the church office but everything was wrong. At that point we decided to go back to the city centre. As soon as we got there the irritably started to lift and we prayed for the rest to go, which it did. As we were going to the post office to mail yet another letter there was a young man walking with two crutches. I asked him what was wrong with his knee. He told us it was his hips actually and then explained that he had an inoperable brain tumor, had had many operations, and treatment with radiation therapy that had shrunk it. He would stop periodically to catch his breath. I asked him about prayer. This did not make him happy. He said a woman had stopped him on the high street, told him that if she prayed Jesus would take away the pain, which made him very angry. He said if that was so why hadn't Jesus taken it before now. He was angry about religion and not open to it at all. I was at a loss of what to say. I patted him on the shoulder, said we were for him and left him to get on with his business.
Bonnie and I had been reading in John where Jesus went to the pool of Siloam where the people waited for the angels' to stir the waters for healing. He asked the man: "Do you want to get well?" I think that is an important revelation. Do all people want to get well? Or has it become part of their identity to be ill? Or are they mad at God because of this affliction and all the suffering? All we can do is pray that God would reveal His love and mercy to this young man. I don''t know if I would be any different if it was me in his situation.
Day 7 was different. We felt like all hell was coming against us. The local neighbourhood watch newsletter had an article encouraging people to watch out for faith healers, etc,.. It was like something leapt on us and we were so irritable. We went to the church office but everything was wrong. At that point we decided to go back to the city centre. As soon as we got there the irritably started to lift and we prayed for the rest to go, which it did. As we were going to the post office to mail yet another letter there was a young man walking with two crutches. I asked him what was wrong with his knee. He told us it was his hips actually and then explained that he had an inoperable brain tumor, had had many operations, and treatment with radiation therapy that had shrunk it. He would stop periodically to catch his breath. I asked him about prayer. This did not make him happy. He said a woman had stopped him on the high street, told him that if she prayed Jesus would take away the pain, which made him very angry. He said if that was so why hadn't Jesus taken it before now. He was angry about religion and not open to it at all. I was at a loss of what to say. I patted him on the shoulder, said we were for him and left him to get on with his business.
Bonnie and I had been reading in John where Jesus went to the pool of Siloam where the people waited for the angels' to stir the waters for healing. He asked the man: "Do you want to get well?" I think that is an important revelation. Do all people want to get well? Or has it become part of their identity to be ill? Or are they mad at God because of this affliction and all the suffering? All we can do is pray that God would reveal His love and mercy to this young man. I don''t know if I would be any different if it was me in his situation.
