Dear friend,
I see you… the one who feels like your body is betraying you. You do all the right things to fuel, exercise, rest, and care for the body God’s given you and yet you still don’t know what it might do, or not do, each day. You’ve visited the doctors. You’ve prayed the prayers, You’ve sought advice from friends and even the internet. Now you’re just confused with all the information and it doesn’t seem to matter anyway. From age, illness, injury, trauma, or some crude combination of them all, your body doesn’t do what it used, what you wish it could do.
I see you. More than that, God sees you. Hear His words for you today from a woman who also felt as if her body was forever broken:
“And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’” Luke 8:43-48
My prayer for you today is that you would have an intimate moment with Jesus. A moment to reach out desperately for the only One who can do something about this situation you’re in. And whether the physical body is healed in that moment or not, may you experience deep healing in your heart as you picture Him looking you in the face and saying “Daughter… Son, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Peace. That is the prayer. Whether miraculous healing comes after years and years and years like this woman… or not. May there be deep peace today for you, beyond what you can even imagine.
There’s another piece at play I think as we consider our physical bodies. God tells us that our body is His temple. But maybe yours feels like a broken one, one you think God couldn’t use. Oh, but He is, my friend. He’s alive and at work in you despite a broken body! I don’t just see the ways your body feels like it’s betraying you. I also see the amazing ways you continue to let God speak life to the world around you despite your weary flesh. It is beautiful to see you get up day after day to serve Him and those He’s placed around you despite the ways your body makes that so hard to do.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
May your imperfect body, the body that some days does feel like death, be a reminder of another broken body. The body of Jesus that was broken for you, that you might be healed not in body alone, but in spirit and soul, forever.
So, dear friend, may we praise God together for the bodies we do have, despite their flaws, and with hope for the day our bodies will be fully renewed in the new heavens and new earth:
God, thank you for still dwelling in this broken temple. Thank you for continuing to use me to do your work in this work despite my brokenness. See me today. Touch me. Look into my eyes and speak tenderly to my heart. Remind me that whether physical restoration of my body happens or not, you ARE offering me peace today, deep peace beyond what I can imagine. Help me rest in that peace today and everyday. Amen.
bekahfreed.com 