He Heals

After my last blog post I really started to think of the healing power of the Lord. In scripture, the Holy Spirit is referred to as “The Healer”. I was brought back to a conversation I had with one of the youth one night. The theme we were focusing on that week with them was “Walking in Holiness”. That night I got to share with them a part of my story. I used horrible Spanglish and thankfully had a translator to get my seemingly gibberish words across. 

I shared with them how over the span of two years the Lord brought me away from a lifestyle of partying into walking closer with Him and experiencing life so much more fully. To give you a little background, most of these kids (ages 14-18ish) have witnessed more in their lives than I most likely ever will. Some from their families and some just from living in Medellin. Drugs and partying are so accessible to them and some have already fallen in. 

Of course, the United States isn’t much different, but the city of Medellin is much darker than where I live and where many of my friends and family live.

I shared with them two scriptures that were shared with me when I was a freshman in college. At this time, I had just tasted the goodness of the Lord but also had my foot in the door in a lifestyle that contradicted everything I was learning about the life Christ calls me to live. 

These scriptures came from a conversation where I asked a girl who lived her life completely differently than I did why she lived her life the way she did. She had something that made me so curious. She was full of wisdom, true joy, and her life was radiant. 

I really focused on Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, I URGE you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God– this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, leasing and perfect will.”

That was shared with me then, but it wasn’t clear to me until halfway through my sophomore year of college. When it did become clear though, my life started to change. The Lord started to do so much work in me and the more I sought after Him and learned more about Him, the more my heart changed. 

Paul starts that verse with “Therefore, I urge you”. Urge. We have a choice. 

I ended with asking them and myself a question. I asked if there was anything they felt like was holding them back from walking closer with Jesus. We pondered this, wrote our “thing” down, and spent some time thinking and praying. 

At the end of the night, Rebekah, one of the wonderful women who serves and works at Ciudad, called anyone forward who felt like they didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus and wanted to step into one and receive prayer. 

Four kids raised their hand but one in particular stuck out to me. It was someone I had been around a good bit. After we prayed for them, he looked very upset. I felt it in me that I had to go speak to him. 

I told him that the Lord sees him, and He sees that he wants to have a personal relationship with Him. That sometimes surrendering to the Lord doesn’t look like this huge moment, but it simply looks like seeking Him and wanting to learn more about Him. 

The boy answered me and said “No, He doesn’t.”

I asked why.

He handed me his sheet of paper with a list of the things he wanted to hand over to the Lord but had no faith that He could actually heal him. 

I didn’t even finish reading his list before I answered him.

“The Lord can heal all of these things. I know He can. I’ve seen Him do it.” 

I told him I believed the Lord could heal him all at once but also that He can heal him over time too, like He did for me. 

The more you seek Him the more you will change. It’s only natural. Once the scriptures start to come alive in your life it becomes a part of you to talk to, want more of, and follow closely behind the Lord. 

This conversation has stuck with me. 

What made me so sure the Lord can truly heal him of the things on his long list?

Where did that confidence and assurance come from?

The question that has stuck with me the most is not if the Lord can do it but if that boy, that boy who feels like he is stuck in a never-ending cycle of harm, will ever truly believe that the Lord can heal him. 

I pray the Lord would show up in his life more than ever before. 

I pray he believes because his faith is what will set him free.