The Lord our Healer

Recently, I was experiencing some pain from an issue I have dealt with for all my pregnancies. Nothing serious, but the pain had been bothering me for at least a week or so, and I knew it would just get worse as my pregnancy progressed. I had an appointment with my midwife and talked to her about it, and also did some looking around on the internet. A few nights later, I was driving by myself to do errands. The pain was still bothering me, so I was thinking about what do about it when a sudden thought came into my head - pray for healing. It was a lightbulb moment. I've talked to my midwife, and searched the Internet, but I never even thought of taking this request to my God (who, by the way, also goes by the name Jehovah Rapha, or "the Lord our Healer".)

Do I believe God can heal? Of course I do. So why isn't it my first instinct to ask Him for healing? I've been challenged by this question for the last week.

A large part of it is lack of faith. I believe God can heal, but I don't necessarily believe He will heal me. Or I believe my problem is far too small for Him to even care about. An even bigger answer to this question, though, is that I am afraid of being disappointed by God. And isn't that an issue for many believers? We don't want to ask for anything from Him because we are afraid He will say no. Because we are fearful that His "no" will affect our faith.

But believing in God doesn't mean we will get what we want, or what we think we need, or even what we deserve. It means we trust that He is sovereign over all, and that He has a plan that we may not fully understand yet. We have faith that His ways are above our own. His answers to our prayers (whether 'yes', 'no', or 'wait') do not determine whether He is good or not. Our faith should never hinge on whether His answers match up with what we want.

Back to my car ride in the dark....

I prayed that if it be His will, that the Lord would heal this issue, or at least take away the pain so I can enjoy my pregnancy more fully. Hours later, the pain was gone, and it's now a week later and it has not returned. Praise God! I'm honestly in awe over it. I wonder now, how many blessings do we miss out on because we simply don't have the faith to ask? Don't be afraid to boldly approach God for all matters of your life. He has a plan, and always trust that His answer to your prayer is a part of that plan, no matter what that answer is.