By Nancy Virden (c)2023 The Miracles Series

My Grandparents had three girls and a boy. My mother, the eldest, went to heaven in 2002. The youngest, my aunt Jeannette, is one of my favorite people. In between are two people I barely know, uncle Leslie and aunt Lois. Aunt Lois was born with disabilities of the brain. She has intellectual disabilities, reaching the developmental stage of a four-year-old. She also suffered repetitive seizures from epilepsy.

Lois’ siblings took her to a church for healing prayer in the 1980s. She has not had a seizure since. Epilepsy is gone! My mom wondered why Lois was not healed of her intellectual disabilities. A similar prayer for healing has left me with some insight.

In 2010 I prayed for healing from three things: depression; high blood pressure; and sciatica. The latter two went away immediately while the depression grew worse. For months I questioned why God had not done the same with the dark shroud falling over my brain and heart.

Then my counselor gave me the idea. If I had been healed of depression, the thought processes and false beliefs that landed me in that condition would not have been addressed. God loved me too much to heal my depression and leave me the same as I’d been. His plan was enormously greater than that.

We learn during times of pain. Whether we learn truth or falsehood depends on our focus. My eyes never wavered from God and I wanted him to lead me even though emotionally I was a wreck. While I wanted the pain to end, I also knew he was capable of anything. I prayed for him to make my struggle a blessing one day. That day has come and it is marvelous to see how my story can help other people.

What of aunt Lois? She has spent her life in the care of others as her parents wished. What has her suffering accomplished?

This takes me back to my mother’s wondering. Because I do not know Lois well, the stories that may offer some answers are not known to me. God considers each life sacred no matter what that life produces or does not produce. We live in a fallen world. That means nothing is as it should be, and not as he intended for his children. Suffering was not in his plan for humans but we chose it (Adam and Eve) by sinning. Sin harms everything that is good.

Still, we can choose to trust God who is holy and whose best promise for those who will believe in his Son Jesus includes perfect health and right minds for eternity. I know Lois believes as did my mother. New life in Jesus Christ is a guarantee no matter how long, short, or useful we perceive to be a person’s time here. God’s wisdom and purposes are beyond our limited reasoning.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

John 17:3

  Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The Miracles Series

If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or for a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. In no way is this website intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

_{HOLY BIBLE, NEW LIVING TRANSLATION, COPYRIGHT © 1996, 2004, 2015 BY TYNDALE HOUSE FOUNDATION. USED BY PERMISSION OF TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC., CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS 60188, PER BIBLE GATEWAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://WWW.BIBLEGATEWAY.COM/}