Does God still heal?

Our pastor asked our congregation last Sunday if we believed that God still heals. I believe it. I do. But I guess the older I get and the more experiences I have...the more I realize that God has a plan...and that His plans are often beyond my understanding.  His plans are always best, and they're always FOR our best.

After Joshua was born, it became even more obvious to me that there are just some things I will never understand, but I was determined to trust God. And what I did, back all those years ago, was to claim as my banner the truth that "God is sovereign." For me, that one thing took away the stress of the "whys" and "what ifs" of our situation...and of all the situations in life that were and are to come. I'm not saying it was easy. It was not. At times, the phrase, "God is sovereign" felt like a thin rope...but I clung to it for dear life.

Did God heal Joshua?

Well, Joshua still has Down Syndrome. He has struggles every single day because of it. When he was younger, he was bullied and teased at school. And even though we tell him he can do and be anything he wants, he is physically and mentally limited. He just is.

Even typing those words is about to break my heart.

No, God did not heal Joshua. But while he has some limitations, he has spiritual insight like you wouldn't believe. Oh, he can't prounounce many of the big words of the Bible, or tell you the original meaning of words in Hebrew or Greek.

Can you?

But he is spiritually sensitive beyond belief, and God speaks to him. And God has used him mightily. As an 'ordinary" kid, I seriously doubt that he would've made the impact on lives that he has because of how God made him. There aren't enough pages to write about the lives he has touched, or the many ways he has blessed our lives.

Then there's Clark. I like to say that from the time he got INTO my womb, he was trying to get OUT. Seriously almost lost him a couple of times before he was eventually born. But God spared Him. When I was just 26 weeks pregnant and threatening to give birth at any moment, God enabled Clark to stay inside my tummy for another week, allowing time for life-saving, lung maturing drugs to be administered. When Clark was born at 27 week 4 days, he was so very tiny. And I was so very sick. And although it took a long time, God used medication and physicians, and He healed Clark from any issues resulting from his prematurity. And he healed me as well.

Fast forward two years, and Baby Clark is diagnosed with cancer. I prayed for healing. We all did...from the first inkling of a problem...to when we received the pathology report...until the surgery he had to remove the tumor. I knew God could heal Clark immediately. Why didn't He? I'll never know. But, again, God used doctors and chemo and other meds to heal Clark...and we were so thankful, and we rejoiced, and we gave all praise and glory to God. In fact, not a day goes by that we aren't reminded of God's protection and healing when it comes to Clark Joseph. He's a boy, which means I see him shirtless approximately 15 times a day...and his scars remind us that there is a story being written for his life...for all of our lives. We all have scars of one kind or another.

Our scars tell our stories.

In the summer of 1998, my Mom got sick. So sick. She thought it was a stomach bug that would eventually pass. That's even what the doctor said when, after 2 weeks of not getting better, she went in to see him. The doctor checked her out and ran some lab work. The results arrived in the mail on a Monday: all tests came back normal. My mom died that night. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. Part of God's plan, apparently, because attempts to revive her failed. When my Dad called to tell me, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could he. She was his rock, his life partner and friend. They had done much together, and had plans to do much more.

How could this be?

"They have to be wrong...they didn't try hard enough to save her." Those were my thoughts. When my Dad called, she had been dead just minutes. I began to pray...to BEG...for God to heal her...to raise her up right then and there. Haven't we all heard or read about people who suddenly wake up in the morgue after being pronounced dead? It's rare, for sure...but nothing is too big for my God, right?

My Mom was fairly well-known in her circle of work and church and ministry. I thought of the ones who would undoubtedly be saved and influenced by her miraculous healing and the testimonies that would follow. Surely God could see that revival would break out in Tulsa if He performed this miraculous event. But He didn't. He could've healed her, but He chose not to. Correction: He chose to heal her in His way...not mine.

In 2010, a young couple in a ministry position at our church, expecting a baby, found out that their unborn child had a condition that would be "inconsistent with life." He was alive and active in his Mother's womb, but would die soon after birth. There was no cure...no surgery could be done...no medicines could be given to reverse this condition. How could this be?

Collectively, as a church, we hit our knees. And we prayed. And we begged God to heal this child...to miraculously change the outcome. Every month...every test...we pleaded. And every month...every test...showed the same thing. On the days leading up to his birth, and on his actual birth-day, there was prayer and fasting and pleading by many in our church body, and among family and friends. Prayer groups had been formed among friends and Bible Study groups, and even by those in other congregations. And God laid it on the heart of a 9th grade girl to start a prayer group at the local high school. It continues to meet to this day...3 years later. Lives had been touched by Believers and unbelievers alike, as it had become widely known that...no matter the diagnosis...no matter the medical counsel they had been given...the parents had bravely stated they would carry this baby to full term, unless GOD intervened.

Did God heal?

No. At least not in the way we had hoped. Karston Lloyd Steelman took one breath, and then was carried into the arms of Jesus.

What I know: God heals.

What I've learned: His will, His way.

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8)