How one man found healing in the midst of chronic suffering.
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When a person is faced with tumultuous challenges in their life, a first response might be to run, hide, escape, or simply give up. It is crucial at these points that you must remind yourself of “your original glory.” What are the purposes for which you feel you were born? This is important because often we journey through life at the behest and request and opinions of others. What is that something that you have had a zeal or passion for that you taste every day?
I was at a similar crossroads about fifteen years ago. I had suffered chronically from lung collapses in a five to six year period. I considered myself to be a spiritual man, for after all I had been pastoring at that time for almost ten years. In the course of that time period, my lungs had collapsed some seven times with a total of five surgeries. My last surgery had left me at a meager 135 pounds. I was a married father of three, pastoring, working, and a full-time student. I had become frustrated with these physical challenges and “demanded of God” that he heal me. Shockingly enough, I almost thought that I deserved to be healed. Prayerfully I would eventually learn that it is wholly of God’s grace.
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I had become frustrated with these physical challenges and “demanded of God” that he heal me. Shockingly enough, I almost thought that I deserved to be healed. Prayerfully I would eventually learn that it is wholly of God’s grace.
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I recall so vividly one morning while recuperating after my last surgery that there was a talk show on television. I wasn’t watching it since I had taken my Vicodin medication, which was not relieving my pain but simply giving me an overall sense of euphoria, and that definitely was not good.
This talk show featured a group from the Woodstock era and they were performing a song entitled “Let’s Bring Heaven Down Here.” It was a melodic simple song. It was almost as if birds were chirping it. The most powerful and poignant line in the song was, “Let’s bring down here, I don’t want to wait for the angels, let’s bring heaven down here.” The song spoke to my spirit as well as my pity. I was made mindful of my original glory, my original calling, and my original purpose. Life has its obstacles, but the call and neither the journey ceases. It was in my bedroom that I reaffirmed my faith in God and sought to bring light and hope to others.
We can never trust others to fulfill our call and purpose. It was not given to them. If heaven is to come, you must bring it, and I must bring it. Healing came to me in that room some fifteen years and I shall never forget it. It is our call to bring heaven down here, where the angels can help.
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Photo: Flickr/Donald Lee Pardue
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