A powerful testimony….

Just got this email today from the leader of a group of youth in Virginia.  They had a powerful time here in Nicaragua…..this section of the email was awesome to read!

A few years ago Ruby prayed for Emmy M. and told her that God had blessed her with the gift of healing.  She was afraid and unsure, but with encouragement we kept telling her to be open and not afraid of praying for people that God put in her path.  This year one of our students on the trip—Claire S.—had been struggling with a skin condition for the last several months.  She had gone to many doctors, dermatologists, nutritionists, …—but no one could help her with this condition.  After we returned from Nicaragua in June, Emmy asked if she could pray for Claire.  The next morning the skin condition began to clear and within a few days—the condition is gone.  Praise God for His blessing!  You all play significant roles in bringing God’s blessing to so many.

Amazing!  I’ve been reading through the Gospel of Matthew recently and have been pretty amazed at how many times Jesus actually healed.  In fact this morning in chapter 20 Jesus healed two blind men who cried out to him.  Healing is something mysterious for two reasons….first is because it defies all reason and natural science and that brings us into all kinds of mystery.

The second mystery for me is why.  I always wonder why Jesus heals, and why He still heals.  A consistent theme in Matthew is that people who were healed always came and asked, either by themselves or a loved one tracked Jesus down.  We suffer when we are sick or dying and Jesus loves us, so His compassion for us certainly has to be part of the reason he heals.  But even deeper, why do healings happen sometimes and sometimes not.  I feel like it has to do with more than just our physical health, because in reality even though we may be healed today we are all still going to die somewhere down this short adventure we call life.  So why?

It is for the Kingdom of God.  God is on a purposeful endeavor of redemption.  Jesus taught us to pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  So when a healing happens it is part of a great purpose, greater than just the immediate.  God is doing something redeeming.  The healing, and the testimony about it that follows is part of some greater purpose that God is orchestrating for His Kingdom.  It is a web of salvation, redemption, goodness, mercy, love, awesome power, etc… that goes beyond just that moment of healing.

So, passing on the testimony of this healing in Virginia is part of God’s purpose for this one I am sure.  I hope you are encouraged by this testimony.  It is powerful.  It is all about Jesus.  It is all about redemption.  It is all about God’s great love for us.  Amen.