What if God doesn't really want me to be healed?

[The_Mark]

I have a certain medical condition that, while not life-threatening, does cause problems. The condition itself is not important. I have prayed to God asking Him to heal me, and while that’s all well and good, I have been learning more about how negativity, pessimism, or unforgiveness in our unconscious minds can essentially close off our hearts or even our bodies to God’s healing grace. So, it could be that because I’ve convinced my subconscious that I won’t be healed, I am blocked from receiving God’s healing (mostly because I struggle with pessimism, especially in regard to God’s will for my life). I have heard about certain prayers meant to help the subconscious that boil down to “God, I know You are healing me. Thank You for healing healing me.” The idea apparently being the fact that my subconscious thinks I’m being healed makes me get healed. But what if an illness I have is a trial that God wants to allow for my sanctification? What if it’s not part of His plan that I be healed of this particular illness? If that’s true, than I see no issue with simply asking Him to heal me (maybe He does want to heal me, but if He doesn’t, He won’t). But saying “God, You are healing me of this particular illness, thank You for healing me of this particular illness”, seems presumptuous.

I know God won’t get mad at me for assuming He’s healing me of an illness when He doesn’t intend to. But I also know that reality is not at my beck and call and that I can’t make God’s power do something He doesn’t intend simply by “willing” my subconscious into healing my body. I just don’t feel right saying a prayer that unconditionally states something as true that really is conditional, and not necessarily true.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

A few years ago, I had a mole removed that might be cancerous, about a month after; the doctor phoned to say he urgently wanted to see me, it was non Hodgkins Lymphoma. I knew this cancer; our best friend had it, and three months after being told about it, she died.

After the initial shock of knowing I had been given a possible death sentence, I prayed for the wisdom peace and serenity to do God’s will, regardless as to whether the cancer would prove to be fatal or just an inconvenience. I can only say that from the moment of making this prayer, I have experienced profound times of peace and the thought of cancer has never troubled me at all…

My cancer may or may not come back, but I am now in a position to thank God for the profound sense of peace I have experienced. I have never once prayed for healing, at the age of 65, the prayer for healing seemed to complicated to me. We all die at some point, and I just accept this.

I pray that you are able to live in peace with your condition,

Blessings

Eric

 

[NovusFidem]

I recently worked with cancer patients (me nurse!) and I often questioned this myself. My grandmother died one year ago of cancer, and my grandfather (and godfather) died some seven months ago from pneumonia, after living with Alzheimer’s for some years.

(now, cope with me, as I am new to bible reading!)
When Jesus was on the Mount of Olives, and He knew what was to come, He also prayed for Our Father in Heaven, considering the events that were to come:

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”(Luke 22:42)

See, even at this time Jesus taught us how to pray. We can, and should!, ask for healing (for a job, for marriage, etc), but ultimately it is God’s will that shall be done.

As a nurse, it often gets hard to live by this, so I often pray for understanding*. I do not know God’s will, if the patient will be healed or not, but I often ask that, no matter what is going to happen, that we may learn whatever it is He wants us to learn.

I see suffering as a great opportunity to ‘get better’ or ‘love more’. Ill patients, cancer patients, might never get better… but they sure change people around them. I have heard a story of a Nutritionist who disapproved of the family bringing some of a terminally ill child’s favorite snacks (and a coke!); the child died in the morning of the following day, and now that Nutritionist feels that she should be less strict with the protocol and more human; she became a better professional, more compassionate and kind… The point is, even if you are not healed, you are still going through THIS for some reason. Pray to God that you may achieve this reason, even if you may never know what it is

Some of my favourite Saints suffered a lot, and I see suffering as the perfect place for Love to start. One of the quotes I would like to share with you, what Our Lord said to St. Teresa: “Think you, my child, that merit consists in enjoyment? No, it consists in suffering and in loving. Look at my life, wholly embittered with afflictions. Be assured, my child, that the more my Father loves anyone, the more sufferings he sends him; they are the standard of his love. Look at my wounds; your torments will never reach so far. It is absurd to suppose that my Father favors with his friendship those who are strangers to suffering.”

So, yeah. There is something better that God is making out of your suffering, your Cross, so you need to learn to embrace it and love it**… SPECIALLY if you never get healed, or else you will end up living your life with something that you hate. When God heals you, if that is His will, if you loved this suffering you might even remember all the good things that came out of it.

I, for one, remember fondly of my depression - I went from a cynic, sarcastic, bitter girl, to a kinder, calmer and more understanding woman. (hopefully hehehe!! )

But, hey! Doesn’t mean I don’t go in every room with a patient believing: “Today God is going to perform a miracle here!! I am SURE it is today!!” (everyday!).

*(discernment? Enlightenment? I can’t translate it well into English, sorry. I speak Portuguese )
** Like Jesus carried His Cross. He held and loved that Cross so much, because He knew that through it, His suffering and His death, all of us would be saved. God has something better planned already; have faith!

 

[Eric_Hyom]

I recently worked with cancer patients (me nurse!) and I often questioned this myself. My grandmother died one year ago of cancer, and my grandfather (and godfather) died some seven months ago from pneumonia, after living with Alzheimer’s for some years.

(now, cope with me, as I am new to bible reading!)
When Jesus was on the Mount of Olives, and He knew what was to come, He also prayed for Our Father in Heaven, considering the events that were to come:

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”(Luke 22:42)

See, even at this time Jesus taught us how to pray. We can, and should!, ask for healing (for a job, for marriage, etc), but ultimately it is God’s will that shall be done.

As a nurse, it often gets hard to live by this, so I often pray for understanding*. I do not know God’s will, if the patient will be healed or not, but I often ask that, no matter what is going to happen, that we may learn whatever it is He wants us to learn.

I see suffering as a great opportunity to ‘get better’ or ‘love more’. Ill patients, cancer patients, might never get better… but they sure change people around them. I have heard a story of a Nutritionist who disapproved of the family bringing some of a terminally ill child’s favorite snacks (and a coke!); the child died in the morning of the following day, and now that Nutritionist feels that she should be less strict with the protocol and more human; she became a better professional, more compassionate and kind… The point is, even if you are not healed, you are still going through THIS for some reason. Pray to God that you may achieve this reason, even if you may never know what it is

Some of my favourite Saints suffered a lot, and I see suffering as the perfect place for Love to start. One of the quotes I would like to share with you, what Our Lord said to St. Teresa: “Think you, my child, that merit consists in enjoyment? No, it consists in suffering and in loving. Look at my life, wholly embittered with afflictions. Be assured, my child, that the more my Father loves anyone, the more sufferings he sends him; they are the standard of his love. Look at my wounds; your torments will never reach so far. It is absurd to suppose that my Father favors with his friendship those who are strangers to suffering.”

So, yeah. There is something better that God is making out of your suffering, your Cross, so you need to learn to embrace it and love it**… SPECIALLY if you never get healed, or else you will end up living your life with something that you hate. When God heals you, if that is His will, if you loved this suffering you might even remember all the good things that came out of it.

I, for one, remember fondly of my depression - I went from a cynic, sarcastic, bitter girl, to a kinder, calmer and more understanding woman. (hopefully hehehe!! )

But, hey! Doesn’t mean I don’t go in every room with a patient believing: “Today God is going to perform a miracle here!! I am SURE it is today!!” (everyday!).

*(discernment? Enlightenment? I can’t translate it well into English, sorry. I speak Portuguese )
** Like Jesus carried His Cross. He held and loved that Cross so much, because He knew that through it, His suffering and His death, all of us would be saved. God has something better planned already; have faith!

Thanks for sharing, and your English is very good.

Blessings

Eric

 

[oldgraymare2]

I was truly inspired by reading your post, NovusFidem. It was really beautiful, and your English is just fine! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

The Mark,

I think that all that we can do is just keep praying. Should we pray for healing? Sure.

I have many chronic illnesses, myself. Some of them have a genetic component to them, meaning that some of my family members had some of the same conditions, too.

All of these conditions are all managed, as one might say, through health care that I receive. I believe that God has worked through my health care team, and has answered my particular prayers in that way.

 

[Bonnie]

After the initial shock of knowing I had been given a possible death sentence,** I prayed for the wisdom peace and serenity to do God’s will**

That is the key thing. I’ve only prayed for healing once as the pain was so bad I felt I either had to die or get healed. I eventually did get healed - found a good surgeon - but there is still the chance of it coming back.

But praying “thy will be done” works out much better in the long run. Short run too - I have more peace. I have a couple of chronic conditions - one of which will probably kill me - and while I’ve learned to manage them, I haven’t seen healing.

Only a handful of people over 2,000 years and all over the world have had miraculous healings, so I’m not surprised that I’m not one of them.

 

[JRKH]

I have a certain medical condition that, while not life-threatening, does cause problems. The condition itself is not important. I have prayed to God asking Him to heal me, and while that’s all well and good, I have been learning more about how negativity, pessimism, or unforgiveness in our unconscious minds can essentially close off our hearts or even our bodies to God’s healing grace. So, it could be that because I’ve convinced my subconscious that I won’t be healed, I am blocked from receiving God’s healing (mostly because I struggle with pessimism, especially in regard to God’s will for my life). I have heard about certain prayers meant to help the subconscious that boil down to “God, I know You are healing me. Thank You for healing healing me.” The idea apparently being the fact that my subconscious thinks I’m being healed makes me get healed. But what if an illness I have is a trial that God wants to allow for my sanctification? What if it’s not part of His plan that I be healed of this particular illness? If that’s true, than I see no issue with simply asking Him to heal me (maybe He does want to heal me, but if He doesn’t, He won’t). But saying “God, You are healing me of this particular illness, thank You for healing me of this particular illness”, seems presumptuous.

I know God won’t get mad at me for assuming He’s healing me of an illness when He doesn’t intend to. But I also know that reality is not at my beck and call and that I can’t make God’s power do something He doesn’t intend simply by “willing” my subconscious into healing my body. I just don’t feel right saying a prayer that unconditionally states something as true that really is conditional, and not necessarily true.

Excellent post…How does one deal with this?

Perhaps the thing to do is to determine which “disease” you really need to pray about.
What I mean is that, the physical disease is problematic, but the other things that rob you of your eases (hence dis - ease) may be the bigger problem.

The greatest “ease” we can have is to trust in the Lord and accept what he has given us (good and bad) with gratitude for what it can teach us. We enjoy the good times and cope with the bad…always with a grateful heart.

Will a grateful heart take away the struggle? No it won’t.
Will it lead to a physical healing? I don’t know.

But - -

It will make you life more pleasant, and your cross lighter.

Peace
James