Chapter 3: The Healing Journey

"Do you want to be healed?"









such a simple questions...and yet such a loaded one. It is this question that Jesus poses to the lame man near the healing pool of Bethesda in John 5. Now it may seem like a silly question to ask but if you think about, i mean really think about, you will realize that it is one of the most important questions that you have to asked yourself. Do i want to be healed? Do i want to change my life? Do I want to change my Identity, the person who I am now? Am i willing to give all that up for the better?

for so long the man had been sitting there by the pool (38-yrs to be exact), it is all he knows. It has become who he is, a sick man. However, here comes Jesus giving him the chance to change all that. Should he take it? or should he deny it and stay the way he is but always wonder?

Now before you answer, lets switch to a different story. Lets go to Mark 2 in which a man is lowered through the roof into a crowded room in which Jesus is teaching. Jesus commands this man to get up and walk. Now think what must be running through this boy guys head. First his friends drag (literally) him to this place where this "miracle-worker" is talking, then when they get there it is so crowded they can't get to him so they decide to lower him through the roof! Now just imagine that, you can't move, you are lying on a mat, and you are being lowered through a roof. Now only that but the guy your friends brought you to see tells you to get up and walk. HELLOOO! if i could walk i wouldn't have had to have my friends lower me through the roof. But maybe you aren't that cynical but just afraid. What if you body doesn't respond to what your brain tells it to do? What if you get up and fall down in front of everyone? Do you even remember how to walk? Yet, despite your cycanism and doubts, you know, like the man near the pool, that if you don't obey the command that this man has issused you, you have 0% of being healed. you know that you not only have to listen but OBEY what he is saying. once you do this you will be healed through his goodness.

This is what we must do, all of us are broken in one shape or form. All of us are hurting and in need of healing. however it isn't till we obey what God commands to us are we able to begin the healing process.

Typically one of things that God calls us to do in order to heal is to tell our story. Telling our story is not only theraputic for us because it allows us to shed the layers of hurt and anger, but it all paves the way for forgiveness against those who hurt us. In addition, by sharing your story with others, it allows you to form a sort of spiritual community that can help and support you through the healing process.

However telling our story also reveals our volunerabilities, it forces us to face our past, and shows the world that we may not it as together as we would like to think. Although this may not be easy, Jesus tells us "DO NOT FEAR, ONLY BELIVE" Believe that he will give you the strength you need, that he has a plan for you that is for the better and not the worse, and believe that there will be a dawn at the next day. There will be beauty from the pain, as long as we obey and believe.

Living Your Faith:

1. In what ways are you holding on to your idenity as a sick and wounded person? I am holding on to this idenity like is was a safety ring. It is this hold that prevents me from taking that final leap. Do i want to be healed? part of me yells: YES, but another part me is content with where i am in in life and content with my sicknes........
2. In what forum (bible study, small group, prayer partnership, family) can you break the power of shame by telling your whole story? I can and will use this website to share my story (post prolly tomorrow cause its late and i have class in the am). I also plan on attempting to create an art journal that chronicles it and to share my story with those i have begun to become friends with at my church.
3. In your healing process, who is your community? How are they helping you through this time? My community are you my readers, my friends, my family and those who attend my chrurches. All support me through advice, guidance and prayer. They all help to provide a ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, and arms to hug.
4. How are you demonstrating and proclaining Jesus's goodness to you? I would like to say through my words and actions but i am not sure that is true. Also i am not sure that i am truly demonstrating this and is something that i need to work on.
5. How can you tell your story to help others consider Jesus? By telling and sharing my story, it allows others to see that i am human just like them and that i have gone thourgh similar things that they have gone through in the past or are going through now. It allows me to be an example as to what can occur when you stop fearing the unknown and simple believe and obey God.