I went to my podiatrist today. We started talking about old people, meaning us. We are both in our 60s. He sees patients who are in their 80s, so he has more for comparison. So, for my feet, but in general we came to the question “Is this the new normal?”
I know that I have a weird, and wonderful way of looking at things, especially if I stay with the weird long enough for the Lord to turn it into wonderful. And, with God all things are possible. (Mat 19:26, Mar 10:27). So with something that seems to just doesn’t seem to work as well as it did, can He heal it? That is never the question. The question is “Will He heal it?”
But, how to explain it to my podiatrist. We have had other conversations about faith in God, but I don’t remember how much of the same page we are on, and how much we are not. I feel like I am not on the same page for much of anything with anyone else. That feels very lonely. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a therapist, and she commented that no one likes to feel weird. My response was, “I am weird. Out of the ordinary in several dimensions.” And because of that, even when I am mainly on the same page with someone, it is normal for me to doubt that I am. Normal for me is being abnormal.
In any case, I wanted to explain my “nothing is ever certain”, “don’t put a period where God has only placed a comma” sort of life. I started with my pinched nerve malady, where the Lord challenged me to be like a Canadian friend who was unable to get a diagnosis, and therefore treatment/symptomatic relief for a condition. I was convicted, and realized if he was depending on God, and praying to God, I should join him in doing likewise for my pinched nerve and pain. I did, and the Lord took the pain away after a while.
I have a different friend who had a very similar pinched nerve pain who goes to the church where I fellowship. I was talking to him about how God heals supernaturally today, and how I knew a woman, years ago, to whom God gave the gift of healing. Holy Spirit gave me a nudge to pray for the man, not just talk about praying. So I did, and God healed him for 3 or 4 weeks, but then the pain returned. He asked me recently to pray for him again. I was glad to do that. He shared with me his doubt. He said that it was hard to put up with it, but he was willing to tolerate it, if God was in that. Something made me angry about the word “tolerate”. I didn’t feel that was of God. So we prayed together for Jesus to heal him.
So the podiatrist and I came around be to the “how” question. How do I know if I will heal me? There is only one answer to that question. Ask Him.
But asking Him means talking to Him. And I am afraid what He might want to talk about with me if We start talking. I admitted that to my podiatrist. And he told me that he understood that exact problem.
It was refreshing to name the problem so precisely (with Holy Spirit’s guidance). And it was a call to honest conversation with my Creator. And it was good that I was not alone.
Jesus Day by Day 