Healed!

On Tuesday and Wednesday my children learned a wonderful lesson about God's power to heal. Tuesday evening was our monthly home school meeting. I took the kids and dropped them off at the child care room and enjoyed the meeting, which was a special time to honor dads, complete with a panel discussion with 4 home schooling dads.

When I went to pick up the kids, the workers told me Charis had been complaining that her ear itched and was pulling on it all night. Uh, oh. I asked her about it, and she insisted that it was itching, not hurting. But a few minutes later, she said it did hurt, and she was in tears. I herded everyone back to the meeting room, where I discussed the situation with some other moms to get some ideas of what we should do. After hearing various home remedies and suggestions, I decided to head to Walgreens to consult with the pharmacist there.

On our way to the store, we prayed that Jesus would heal Charis' ear. When we were finished, Tobin asked, "What is heal?" We then had a discussion about what that means and remembered some of our Bible stories about Jesus healing people.

The Walgreens pharmacist heard Charis' cough and thought that she must have an ear infection. However, she did recommend going ahead and getting an ear wax removal treatment, which I did, thinking that if nothing else at least Charis would feel like I was doing something to help her. After we got home and got the boys in bed, we did her treatment, and she seemed somewhat comforted and slept well that night.

The next morning I was up early for my quiet time. I prayed again for healing for Charis, thinking that if she was at all complaining about itching or pain I would definitely make an appointment to take her in. I paused to reflect that usually when I pray for healing for our family (meaning typical sickness-type stuff), I have to admit that one of my prime motivations for asking God to heal us is simply that it is convenient. It's not fun being sick and trying to go to work or take care of kids. And it's definitely not fun taking care of sick kids. When I ask God for healing in these instances and find that we continue to battle the cold or whatever for a number of days, quite frankly, we probably deserve the misery, because it is primarily selfishness that motivates me to ask for God's healing!

So, going back to my prayer, I took a look at my heart attitude. Was I willing to give up a good chunk of my day to pack up all the kids and make the half-hour drive to base, sit in a crowded waiting room, and see a doctor--and all this after being on hold forever on the phone to make the appointment in the first place? I honestly believed that yes, I was willing, and I would prepare myself to have a good attitude throughout a day of potential challenges, believing that God would teach us (especially me) something valuable. At the same time, I began to think about Charis and her experience with prayer. Since we had discussed healing the night before and prayed for God to heal her several times, might it not be more important on this occasion that Charis personally experience the healing hand of our Almighty God? It wasn't a question that I believed I needed to answer, merely a thought that I had during my prayer time. And so I continued praying, asking that if it was God's will, He would choose to heal Charis so that we could rejoice in His answer to our prayer, creating an indelible memory in her mind that would help shape her understanding of who God is.

You probably don't need me to tell you what happened. Charis was indeed healed--not so much as an itch or twinge of pain. I kept asking her throughout the day to be sure (I don't want to be negligent if she really does need to be taken to a doctor!), and each time she answered that her ear felt well, we would stop and praise God for answering our prayer for healing.

What a mighty God we serve! And how tender and merciful He is towards His children!