Healing: some thoughts from Patty

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

I was going to write this letter privately to a couple of our girls on the group

in answer to a letter, but I felt that it might be a blessing to a few others as

well.

Yesterday I was having my quiet time with the Lord, and was thanking Him for how

much better I have been feeling since I got off the HCG diet. It had really

scared me how those symptoms came back, and I had even had a little pity party

last weekend about my body, wondering if I was EVER going to be free of some of

these reminders of my illness, and be normal again. Thank God that He has

compassion on us and works us through these little tantrums with teaching!

Sometimes during my quiet time with the Lord, I will just read scripture in the

place I last left off and learn from it, but other times I feel the Lord tapping

me on the shoulder and asking me to just chill and have a conversation. Yes, He

does talk back to me, in the quiet of my soul. He guides me. An example is

yesterday, so I will share that with you.

I actually had started by looking up " angel " in my concordance. I have a strong

interest in the activity of angels on our behalf, and looked at the first

instance of it in Genesis, which is Genesis 16:7. But then, I noticed something

about Abraham. As I read further, I took note of Genesis 16:16, which says that

Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Wow. 86. But Ishmael was not the child of the promise, Ishmael was a child of

human decision. Isaac was the child of promise. Abraham was much older when

bore him Isaac. How old? But wait, when did Abraham actually know that

God had promised him offspring, anyway?

So, searching further, I found in Genesis 12:4 that Abram was 75 years old when

he set out from Haran, after God had told him " I will make you into a great

nation. "

In Genesis 17:1,it says, " When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to

him... " and told him that would bear a child in one year. would be

90 years old when she would give birth; Abraham would be 100 years old.

Quite a miraculous thing at their ages, no? But look at the timeline of that

promise! Abraham knew God had told him he would be the father of a great nation

25 years earlier! As the years rolled by, and nothing happened, it must have

seemed to Abraham that the promise was taking tooooooo long. I am sure Abraham

had wondered if he heard God right. I would have had my doubts. By the time the

promise was fulfilled, it had been 25 long years.

Once again I was reminded that God's timing is not our timing. When I get

frustrated that something isn't happening according to MY desires, I realize

that I need to stop and look at God's plan. He knows how it's all going to turn

out. He is in control. What does God require of me? With 100% conviction in my

heart, TRUST HIM. BELIEVE HIM, and live my life accordingly. As one friend

stated, " Knowing and meditating on God's Word are the first steps toward

applying it to your everyday life. If you want to follow God more closely, you

must know what he says.

So...what does He say that He wants me to believe?

On my Facebook page I have these words: " Everything is possible for him who

believes. " Mark 9:23

These were the words of Jesus. If I can't believe the words of Jesus, then what

can I believe? He said in 18:37 " In fact, for this reason I was born, and

for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side

of truth listens to me. "

So, we know there are two sides. One is truth. The other is a lie.

I choose Jesus. I choose truth. Why do we have God's Word today? If it is not

FOR us, then what good is God's Word to us? Why would He have even bothered to

reveal it if it wasn't meant to fulfill a purpose? That purpose is to show us

Himself, if we are willing to seek Him. As one Christmas card I received said,

" Wise men still seek Him. "

Everything is possible for him who believes.

Ladies, never give up your belief that God can heal you, or that God is working

in your life to bring you to completion in Him. Have a willing heart to learn

from Him. Seek Him. Let Him speak to you in the quiet of your soul over your

situation.

Like Abraham, it may take 25 years to receive the fulfillment of your promise.

Like , who pleaded with God three times to take away the thorn in his flesh,

God may say, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in

weakness. " (2 Cor. 12:9)

But we can pray. Jesus gives us The Parable of the Persistent Widow, in 18.

The first sentence says " Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them

that they should always pray and not give up. "

" Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for

his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them

off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. " ( 18:6-8)

I believe that when we are in submission and humbled before God, He hears us and

acts on our behalf, as a loving father acts toward his children. He loves us so

much. He sent Christ to redeem us to Himself. Would He do all for us if He had

not meant to bless us? Would He sacrifice His own Son, just to leave us

abandoned or without hope?

No, I believe that God deeply desires a relationship with us that is vibrant,

alive, active, and communicative. I imagine that when we get on our knees and

put our heads down to pray, He leans forward in His chair to draw closer to us,

listening to our every uttered word with rapt attention, because His Son died

for US. We have been bought with a price...we are His treasured possession. He

won't ignore us. And when we pray, He will answer on our behalf in the way that

He thinks is for our BEST at this given moment in time. I know God answers

prayer because He has answered so many of mine.

In 's confession, in 16:15-17, Jesus asked, " Who do you say I am? "

Simon answered, " You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. "

Jesus replied, " Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed

to you by man, but by my father in heaven. "

Psalm 25:14 tells us a similar statement. It is one of my favorite verses.

" The LORD confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them. "

I like also the King Version, which has these words:

" The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his

covenant. "

I can think of nothing more exciting or thrilling than to know that the God of

the Universe counts me as a loved one—loved enough that He tells me His secrets,

and shares with me the tremendous power of the covenant He has made with His

people. Can you?

God is faithful. He invites us to come to Him with our needs. Jesus words were

these in 7:7:

" Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door

will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and

to him to knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for

bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! "

But let us also have the mind of Christ. We may not get what we ask for, but we

must trust in the outcome. Even Jesus, knowing what was ahead of him as he was

about to be handed over to be crucified asked God, " My Father, if it is possible,

may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. " Three times

Jesus prayed these words, according to 26: 39-43.

Luke 22: 42:44 tells us that he was in such anguish as He prayed these words

that an angel from heaven appeared to Him to strengthen Him, and his sweat was

like drops of blood falling to the ground. Oh, how Jesus prayed for this cup to

pass! Yet He was humble enough to say to God, " yet not my will, but yours be

done. "

Everything God does has an outcome that is perfect. Jesus's death brought us

life. God was thinking about YOU and ME when Christ was nailed to the cross, in

great sorrow and anguish, and yet Jesus knew that in the end, He would find His

place where God had always wanted it. He knew His place was in heaven with God

the Father, and that we would be His inheritance. We are a treasure of great

worth.

Be thankful always. Trust God with your health. Trust Him with your prayers.

Cry out to Him in the depths of your soul, yet be ready and willing to say, " Yet

not my will, but yours be done in my life. "

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which

transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ

Jesus. " ians 4: 6-7

Patty