Thoughts on Healing

For any number of reasons lately I've been considering an holistic idea of healing. My thoughts have provoked a few questions which have lead me to possibly a different understanding of healing.

When we seek healing--whether spiritual, physical, or mental (emotional)--we are met with some expectations. Those expectations arise from our relationship with our Creator, from our relationship with our inner selves, and from our relationship with the World.

When we seek healing, we are, most of the time, fairly confident that we know what needs to be healed. However, are any of us truly whole and healthy with the exception of some specific ailment? I know I'm not. I have a lot of things that are broken or wounded within me.

That said, then, is healing possible as long as we are not fully aware of how wounded and in need of healing we are? How do we know where to start? Is healing possible without our participation? How much of our healing is held captive by our minds, by the way we perceive or see our selves? If we see our selves as sick, wounded, disabled, are we? What if we refuse to see our selves in that way, even though our bodies might actually be broken or wounded?

In scripture, we hear of Jesus healing many folks, with a touch or a simple, powerful Word. What if in some of the most powerful healing examples, Jesus actually was healing the way the person saw themselves? So much of the World's perception of us is governed by our own perception of our selves.

The story of the paralytic lowered through the roof of Jesus' house in Capernaum by four faithful friends was part of my licensing service. I love this story. It speaks so strongly to me of the steadfast faithfulness of our friends being a saving grace in our lives. Yet...when Jesus comments that it is the faith of the paralytic's friends which saved him, could he have been referring to the fact of the faithfulness of the friends, in sticking with this paralyzed man throughout his illness, regardless of his attitude or way of looking at his life? We're not told how long the man had been paralyzed; perhaps he had suffered an accident that left him unable to walk. Could, however, the greater paralyzation have been in his mind? Could the paralyzed man have given up? Perhaps. We read that the man did not get up immediately when Jesus told him his sins were forgiven. The paralyzed man got up when Jesus said, "you are healed, get up, fold up your mat, and go home." Jesus never touched the man. He spoke a simple, powerful Word of forgiveness and of hope, which redefined a man's image of himself, a man who had lived as a paralytic for quite some time.

So, when we need healing, dare we ask God, through Jesus Christ, for a Word of healing: forgiveness and hope? How can we, as conduits of God's grace into the world, provide that Word to others who are broken and wounded in the World?