A Prayer for Healing
July 12, 2010Today I read an article by a mother whose child was recently diagnosed with autism. In it she wrote, “I pray for a miracle every day.” While she gives no explanation, we’re left to assume she means a significant change in her son.
I’ve heard an awful lot of people with developmental disabilities pray. I’ve heard them pray for health, for safety of their mom and dad, for food and friends. I’ve heard a lot of prayers for forgiveness, and I can even remember one really great petition for a new pair of shoes. Yet, I don’t remember a single prayer for a higher IQ, or for new and improved genetics. Why do you suppose that is? I think it hints that a new paradigm of what does and does not need healing might be in order.
Is healing needed? You bet. Consider for a moment all those things related to disability which are indeed tragic – discrimination, inadequate education, poverty, limited health care, reduced independence, social isolation. All of those things need healing – not just in the lives of people with disabilities, but in our lives as well. They all put barriers between us and people with disabilities and we want those barriers destroyed. So did Jesus.
When Jesus healed people, he put them back with society. Of course, it would have been nice if all ten lepers had stopped by to say ‘thank you’, but I have a hunch that nine of them were just too anxious to get out there and live life with their family and friends. After all, Jesus had put them back together.
God knows the difference between those things that make us unique as individuals (like this syndrome or that syndrome) and those things in the world that are truly in need of healing. He knows that the real barrier is the gulf that sin puts between people, regardless of their abilities. And that is the real healing he stepped forward to accomplish in our lives.
Today, may God heal that which needs healing.
David Morstad
I think of this often, especially when a couple is pregnant and they are relieved that tests for “this or that” have come back negative; as if to say, “<> We donged that bullet! Now our child is one more step closer to being born ‘heathly’ and ‘normal.’” It’s past time to change our definition of those two words.
Are we allowing parents to grieve? Isn’t a mother’s prayer for healing part of her grief process? With the right support from her church, her family and friends she will come to accept her child just the way they are. And as He always does, God answers our prayers in the way that is best for us. Healing takes place in many ways, even accepting our loved one’s disability.
I breathe a sigh of relief when test results say I don’t have cancer. Normal reaction don’t you think?
I recommend the book: “Same Lake Different Boat” by Stephanie Hubach for helping to clarify a biblical worldview on disabilties. Among other things, she acknowledges the pain and loss of disability while affirming the gifts and uniqueness of all people.
You make a good point, Jeanne, and I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that grieving doesn’t or shouldn’t take place. At the same time, what does it say to someone who has Down syndrome or something else when we are “relieved” someone else won’t be like him/her? Sensitivity on all sides must prevail. — Not a simple task!
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