I like this Rhonda.

Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rhonda" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 4:48 AM
Subject: [ECHURCH-USA] Purpose driven life devotional


> “But She’s Okay Now!”
> by John Fischer
>
> Instant healing, that’s what my friend said I performed. Of course he was
> just kidding, but that’s what it seemed like to him.
>
> We were talking on the phone and I realized I hadn’t told him that a
> co-worker of mine, someone he knew casually, had been undergoing a 9-month
> bout with
> cancer. Ironically, however, I had also just heard days before that after
> numerous chemo treatments, she had been proclaimed clear of cancer. (All
> visible
> signs of the cancer that had infiltrated several areas of her body,
> including her bone marrow, were completely gone.) I hadn’t really figured
> out how to
> talk about this to someone who wasn’t aware of her ordeal at all, so it
came
> out rather oddly.
>
> Something like: “I don’t think I ever told you that Sheryl has been
fighting
> cancer for some time now.”
>
> “Oh, no. I’m so sorry to hear that.”
>
> I could sense his emotions starting to wrap around this reality, so as to
> not have him to go too far with unnecessary sympathies, I quickly
> interjected,
> But she’s okay now!” There was a pause.
>
> “Wow, that was the quickest healing I’ve ever heard of,” he said laughing.
> “John,” he went on, “you just healed someone right in front of me!”
>
> We enjoyed a good laugh over this, but later I got to thinking, there’s
> something to learn here. In a way, you could say my friend got the God’s
eye
> view
> of Sheryl’s suffering.
>
> Sheryl’s view was quite different. She got the day to day assault on her
> body with anti-cancer treatment and all it’s resulting consequences, and
she
> got
> the day to day uncertainty as to whether any of this was going to do any
> good. Now this, too, was God’s view, because through the Holy Spirit, He
> goes
> through every step of our pain with us. The Holy Spirit even prays for us
in
> groans we cannot even utter (Romans 8:26)! But God also has this other
view:
> “But she’s okay now!” He knew that all along.
>
> From God’s point of view our struggles are over that fast. He knows what
He’
> s doing. He knows why things happen, even if we never do. He has His
> purposes,
> and that’s what faith is all about: believing this when we’re stuck in the
> long haul. All along the way God knows the outcome.
>
> And I suppose there is a way you could say this was true for all of us who
> put our trust in God for whatever we are going through, and whatever the
> outcome,
> including even death itself. God sees it completed. His healing is
instant.
> His comment is always going to be the same.
>
> “But she’s okay now!”
>
> John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily
Devotionals.
> He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler.
> They
> also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published
> author and popular speaker.
>
>
>
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