When I had my brain tumor a few years ago, I was very much in need of healing. The tumor was a menengioma, about the size of an orange on the left frontal lobe of my brain. I had been depressed for quite a while, I had no emotion and was living without any ability to feel much of anything. Our family doctor tried some anti-depressants, but none of them worked. He finally suggested that I get an MRI, which was when they discovered the tumor.
I was fortunate in having an excellent surgeon and a team of neurologists who shepherded me through the whole thing and a good community around me. I was visited by people from my parish, my bishop and clergy in the diocese. My family was there every day and did their utmost for my benefit. Rosie was a star who took my healing on as her primary project. My daughters all brought their talents to my bedside. Melanie, the nurse practitioner, Jennifer, the caring professor and Heather my spiritual guide. They all had a part in my healing. I am so grateful to all of them for what they were able to do for me. I also had my own faith. If you had asked me what my faith was for before my tumor, I don’t think I could have given you much of an answer beyond the kind of thing that we have all learned, and that bring us to this place. In the middle of this experience, I had a much different answer. I think of the words of Psalm 130:
Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice;
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
It took me a year and a half to recover and it wasn’t easy going. I’m not a particularly good patient. I thought I could just get up out of my bed and do everything that I had done before. When I got home from the hospital, the story that my family tells, the first thing that I wanted to do was to take the dog for a walk. That might seem silly, and it certainly was, but it was my way of asserting my control over my life. Fortunately, I had a team of people around me who didn’t let that get too far. Rosie raised her voice, and the kids all teamed up to keep me contained, more or less. Their first priority was my healing, not the expression of my control. They kept their focus and it helped me greatly to regaining my hold on my life.
How does healing happen? My family doctor told me that he can heal about a fourth of the people who come into his office for help, the rest simply get help with their symptoms to alleviate their pain or whatever it is that is tormenting them. I’m not at all surprised at this. Medical science has made great strides, and continues to improve all of the time, but still everything isn’t curable. We all die eventually and we get through our lives with a certain amount of discomfort. The older that we get, the more discomfort there is, and we spend a lot of time talking to each other about our ailments. That is one of the primary ways that we seem to relate to each other.
Jesus spent a lot of time healing people. In the fifth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is confronted by a man named Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue who begged him to come and heal his daughter, who was on the verge of death. On his way with Jairus, a woman who was hemorrhaging pressed close and touched his outer garment and was healed of her hemorrhage. When he got to Jairus’ house, there was a crowd there who told Jairus that his daughter was dead and that it was useless to trouble the teacher any further. Jesus ignored them, saying that the girl was just sleeping. They laughed at him for this. But Jesus went in, took the young girl’s hand, said the words Talitha cum, which means “little girl get up,” and she arose and started walking about. Everyone was amazed.
Everyone was also amazed at my healing. I always got a reaction from people when I told them that I had had a brain tumor. That it was a past event and that I had been cured of it always produced wonder. Thank God for that. It certainly was a wonder that I reflect on from time to time and realize how lucky and blessed that I am to have gone through it, and how wonderful it is to know that all of those people did so much for me to get me through it. That is the part of it that always amazes me. God’s blessing surrounds me. I have seen it in the faces of the people who were a part of my healing, and I know that whatever I do from this moment on is supported by that blessing. God’s healing is a blessing for all of us. It is one of the products of faith and prayer. I looks like a miracle and it is. Be a part of God’s healing for yourself and for others. That’s why we have our prayer list and it is one of the primary reasons that we are together as a community
I was fortunate in having an excellent surgeon and a team of neurologists who shepherded me through the whole thing and a good community around me. I was visited by people from my parish, my bishop and clergy in the diocese. My family was there every day and did their utmost for my benefit. Rosie was a star who took my healing on as her primary project. My daughters all brought their talents to my bedside. Melanie, the nurse practitioner, Jennifer, the caring professor and Heather my spiritual guide. They all had a part in my healing. I am so grateful to all of them for what they were able to do for me. I also had my own faith. If you had asked me what my faith was for before my tumor, I don’t think I could have given you much of an answer beyond the kind of thing that we have all learned, and that bring us to this place. In the middle of this experience, I had a much different answer. I think of the words of Psalm 130:
Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice;
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
It took me a year and a half to recover and it wasn’t easy going. I’m not a particularly good patient. I thought I could just get up out of my bed and do everything that I had done before. When I got home from the hospital, the story that my family tells, the first thing that I wanted to do was to take the dog for a walk. That might seem silly, and it certainly was, but it was my way of asserting my control over my life. Fortunately, I had a team of people around me who didn’t let that get too far. Rosie raised her voice, and the kids all teamed up to keep me contained, more or less. Their first priority was my healing, not the expression of my control. They kept their focus and it helped me greatly to regaining my hold on my life.
How does healing happen? My family doctor told me that he can heal about a fourth of the people who come into his office for help, the rest simply get help with their symptoms to alleviate their pain or whatever it is that is tormenting them. I’m not at all surprised at this. Medical science has made great strides, and continues to improve all of the time, but still everything isn’t curable. We all die eventually and we get through our lives with a certain amount of discomfort. The older that we get, the more discomfort there is, and we spend a lot of time talking to each other about our ailments. That is one of the primary ways that we seem to relate to each other.
Jesus spent a lot of time healing people. In the fifth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is confronted by a man named Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue who begged him to come and heal his daughter, who was on the verge of death. On his way with Jairus, a woman who was hemorrhaging pressed close and touched his outer garment and was healed of her hemorrhage. When he got to Jairus’ house, there was a crowd there who told Jairus that his daughter was dead and that it was useless to trouble the teacher any further. Jesus ignored them, saying that the girl was just sleeping. They laughed at him for this. But Jesus went in, took the young girl’s hand, said the words Talitha cum, which means “little girl get up,” and she arose and started walking about. Everyone was amazed.
Everyone was also amazed at my healing. I always got a reaction from people when I told them that I had had a brain tumor. That it was a past event and that I had been cured of it always produced wonder. Thank God for that. It certainly was a wonder that I reflect on from time to time and realize how lucky and blessed that I am to have gone through it, and how wonderful it is to know that all of those people did so much for me to get me through it. That is the part of it that always amazes me. God’s blessing surrounds me. I have seen it in the faces of the people who were a part of my healing, and I know that whatever I do from this moment on is supported by that blessing. God’s healing is a blessing for all of us. It is one of the products of faith and prayer. I looks like a miracle and it is. Be a part of God’s healing for yourself and for others. That’s why we have our prayer list and it is one of the primary reasons that we are together as a community
No comments:
Post a Comment