thoughts on the news of the day: faith healing

hmmm…..

            An infant girl’s eye was threatened with blindness because her parents did not seek medical treatment.  They believed that time and God would make a golf ball sized bump on her forehead go away.  Their daughter, Alyna, now 1 year-old was taken out of the home and to the doctor for medical treatment for a hemangioma, an abnormal buildup of blood vessels. The toddler remains in the state’s custody but is still living at home with her parents, who were charged with first degree criminal mistreatment.  The trial began yesterday in Oregon City, OR.

            Trusting God for healing is a risky place to be – especially if we trust God exclusively.  When my daughter was about 3 years old, she had this bad habit of taking her shoes off.  While we were washing my car one Saturday morning, she managed to step on a piece of glass which became imbedded in her heal.  Her foot was bleeding and I was in a panic.  Trying to calm her (and myself) down, I told her to blow on the sole of her foot and send it Love.  We said a little prayer as I rushed home to decide what to do next.  In a matter of minutes, when we arrived in my driveway, I looked at her heel and the cut was completely gone.  She was miraculously healed.  True story.

            I wish that I could tell my parishioners to send their illnesses Love and that they, too, would always be miraculously healed.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen that way, at least it doesn’t happen that way very often.  God heals and sometimes God uses doctors and medical treatment to cure our illnesses.  And sometimes God chooses a different kind of healing for us – the healing that comes in peace and acceptance.   Sometimes even that doesn’t help much, but it’s the best we’ve got this side of heaven.

            hmmm…..