However, we are all on different paths and
God may want some people to manage their conditions and sometimes he
does this as Paul case shows. Jesus said that his grace was sufficient
for Paul and that God's power was to be magnified through his weakness
and that God would shine a light into his conditions to magnify his name
to let people know that God is with us and is just (2 Corinthians
12:7–9). I am managing my autism with God as an autistic Christian and
God managed my eating disorder in the past. I wrote more on my own
experiences with autism in my Christian testiomy .Trying to fit this
mould at times of fiiting the perfect shoe anaology in my life and doing
more than what I could when it was understood by God for my eating
disorder at that time tied me up in knots that wasn’t good for my
holistic health.
I was thinking today of the Cinderella shoe
story and trying to find that perfect shoe to fit that view of recovery
some of us have- trying to force ourselves to try and mould and fit
into this conception of a perfect fit, recovery and life. Some of us
need to manage our present state instead of trying to fit into a shoe
that you was not made to fit. Sometimes healing may happen for someone
decades later without asking as can happen as well, so some of us may
want to stay hopeful on that. You can also to work on spiritual
wholeness for the body, mind and spirit as opposed to healing. Some
church's are also now offering wholeness and healing services.
Christ’s healing was the exemplar showing us that he is the Son of God.
Healing and miracles are still happening today as well, some of us are
comforted in our present states in this condition by the Holy Spirit
through experience and are under grace by God. Grace I see as God’s
pure love for his people and understanding of their plight and human
need and frailty against his strength the carrier or their burdens.
Through repentance and remission of our sins we can have eternal life as
well and there can be a place for us to feast with Christ. This is the
very heart and nature of God-this simple love unbounded which is given
to set us free.
There are Saints too who were not healed of
their conditions and miracles which have been attributed to them in
Heaven, which clearly shows that they were Holy people and not a grave
sinner for having a condition. God said also it was a mistake for Job’s
friends for calling him a sinner for having a condition (Job 16:2).
In
the New Testament for one boy with Epilepsy/Seizures before medication
was used to treat this condition in the New Testament the cure for this
condition was prayer and fasting to drive out the spirit (Matthew
17:21). A Blessed called Amadeus IX of Savoy suffered from epilepsy and
God blessed them and gave them grace. As would be expected they also
followed the prescriptive steps in the New Testament to cure this
condition. They lived with this condition and miracles have been
attributed to them. For Amadeus the answer for him was to remain with
condition despite his strong faith and fasting which ended in a life of
physical suffering and grace to eternal life.
This shows how
different two people's paths can be who suffer from the same condition.
One person may be called to follow a path of healing and one may be
called to serve God and live with their condition with God's blessing
and grace and this will be God's will. This will also apply to some
other conditions.
In Pia Matthew's book God's Wildflowers
documents 141 Saints, Blessed and Venerable, who experienced health
challenges ranging from mental to physical pain whilst serving God in
holiness. As the author states in this book. Illness doesn't prove
holiness and neither destroys or causes holiness. Furthermore, although
illness may make things challenging at times, illness doesn't cause
these Saints, Blessed and Venerable, to be abandoned by God.
God
loves you and cares. Perhaps also some of us who are in this condition
may gain comfort from saying the Serenity prayer for those living with
conditions or who are in recovery.
Serenity Prayer
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
