REFLECTIONS ON HEALING

Reflections on Healing.

This was not written in a vacuum, but in the depths of my own pain and questions of “why?”

First. I know God can heal. There is not a doubt in my mind but what He can. Not a doubt! So logic as well as faith would tell us that the reason He has not healed me is that He has a purpose in mind for me that supercedes even the testimony of glory I could give if I were healed. We cannot possibly know what that is, but He has something better for me than physical healing.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Then there is 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. I cannot tell you how many times I have re-read that in every available version and it always brings comfort.

If the great Paul the Apostle could not be healed because he was more valuable to God in his situation, then how much more God values us in our weakness as we bring Him glory.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

7 And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn ([a]a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted.

8 Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;

9 But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and [b]show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may [c]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!

10 So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).

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I think the reason we are not told what the "thorn" was is so that this passage can be precious to all of us regardless of what our struggle is. We can't say, "well I don't have the issue Paul had so therefore I can't apply this to myself."

We have to believe that His grace is sufficient for ALL our needs, and then pray for even more grace. JOhn writes in his gospel chapter 1:16 about grace for grace. Grace is just like the waves of the sea, that every time one waves crashes up on the beach another follows, for ever. And God give us grace upon grace, never ending waves of grace, so that it will always be sufficient.

A song I have sung for so many years says it so well.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;

To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources

Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,

Our God ever yearns His resources to share;

Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;

The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,

His power has no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

We will always manage to reach the end of our hoarded resources, thoughts and plans we have kept (hoarded) for the future, but even after we reach their end, God will still be giving grace.

He Giveth More Grace by Annie Johnson Flint

Moneymaker House on Harwood Avenue

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LDR column published 05.09.12 - Jess Easley

Straight From The Hart By Joan Rowden Hart Jess Easley , Lebanon Historian and StoryTeller I’ve been trying to trace a place called Railroad Pond from the early days of Lebanon. Perhaps some of you “old-timers” will have more information, but I found a reference to it in Jess Easley ’s recollections of Lebanon. Jess talked about skating on Railroad Pond when he was just a kid, and also working to cut ice on it during the cold winters that Lebanon experienced. The grocery stores which had meat markets would hire people to cut ice from the pond to put in their ice house and store for the summer. Jess was one of Milan’s favorite customers when Milan started working at the barber shop with Fred Pitts in 1968, and he quickly became one of Milan’s mentors in collecting oral memories and memorabilia of Lebanon history. Jess was born in Lebanon in January of 1891, and died here on March 1, 1983 at the age of 92 , and had a good strong mind right up to the very end, so he...

Straight From The Hart

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