HEALING: Part 1

“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice & be glad in it!” Regardless of what background, race, culture, religion or theological background we may come from, I am quite certain that this day we are all grateful that we were given another day of life to live into. God our creator, is the giver of all life. Each day He gives us a gift freely given; a gift we should never take for granted. When we awake, we have no idea what the day will bring. What we do know from the Bible, is that God promises to walk with us through all our days, in sickness & in health. God is true to His promises, steadfast in His unconditional love for us all, will never leave us & that is truly reason to give thanks & to rejoice, regardless of what circumstances we may encounter in any of our days.

We are presented with a blank slate at the start of each new day. How we live into the day is up to us. Our earthly life, day by day, is defined not so much by what we encounter during our days but rather, by the choices we make as to how we manage the various ups & downs we encounter each day. God walks with us & guides us, but we have choices to make as to how we will go forward. I think we’d all agree we experience this earthly life, which is made up of both beauty & suffering, through our bodies, our minds, & our spirits.

Some days are full of beauty where we are blessed to live with healthy, physically strong & pain free bodies, clear minds & peaceful grateful spirits. Other days in our lives are challenged by suffering in our bodies, our minds & our spirits. Just as beauty comes in various forms, so does suffering in terms of illness & brokenness of our bodies, confusion, grief, loneliness, anger, stress, anxiety & fear in our minds & loss of hope, wavering faith, temptations & unsettledness in our spirits. When all three: body, mind & spirit are in harmony with one another, it is relatively easy to believe in God & to trust His promise to walk with us, to love us unconditionally & then to gratefully rejoice in the goodness of God, as we live into the symphony of the Holy.

I think as long as we have hope & faith in God living in our spirits, it is possible to feel waves or murmurs of gratitude in our hearts from time to time, even though our bodies may be infirmed in some way & our minds may be cluttered with worry, grief, stress, anger & fear. However, at those times when we are journeying through seasons of suffering, be it of body or mind, I think if our spirits are not fed, we can lose hope & our faith can waver, blocking & unbalancing any healing & subsequent wellness to our mind & body as well as to our spirit. When our spirits get muted by the noise of the pain & suffering of this earthly life, it is difficult to feel grateful, let alone to rejoice.

Sometimes things outside of our control are set before us in life that make it a challenge for us to feel grateful to God & to rejoice. However, in our heart of hearts as well as from the biblical accounts, we know God created all life & therefore there is wholeness & goodness in all things from God. It is His will that we are made whole. He hears our cries & welcomes us to come to Him through His healing grace. There can be no healing if our spirits are wounded & hope & faith are wavering. The Bible tells us that God alone is the great healer. At the time our bodies & or minds are wounded or broken, we need to come to the Lord, trust in His promises, be reminded of who we are & to whom we belong & healing most assuredly will be given.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy