Tag: Healing

Sorrow That Heals

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Devotions, Fatherhood, Uncategorized2 Comments

Sorrow is not a bad thing, but it is evidence that we live in a broken world with broken people. Sorrow can lead to a better world when God is allowed to do His work in our hearts and minds. With sorrow, God can stretch the heart so that it has a higher capacity for love, mercy, compassion and kindness. He can clear out the thoughts and ways of thinking that get in the way of seeing the world and our fellow broken people the way He sees us. Sorrow heals.
However, sorrow can also lead to darker horizons. When sorrow takes us off course and leads us to self-pity or anger or apathy, it loses its power to heal and strengthen. Sorrow can break us further and deeper.
The first way opens the door for Christ to do His work while the other asks Him to wait outside while we wallow and fester alone. In watching the aftermath of the tragedy in Orlando, I wondered if people consider which path sorrow will lead to.  As a father, it breaks my heart to know that grieving parents have to hear the horrible and false narratives that are coming from all sides as they walk with sorrow through a world they are not prepared to live in.  A world where their child is gone, their legacy reduced, their hope for the future dimmed, they have to find the will to move on.  In sorrow.
What is truly infuriating is that some of the most vile, disgusting and hateful comments and public rants are from my brothers and sisters in the faith.  While I would like to argue that the things they have said prove that they don’t truly understand Christ, the truth is I don’t decide whether they are my brothers and sisters in the faith.  Jesus will decide whether they belong to Him or not one day.  Right now I have to claim them as my family as much as it pains me.
And so I apologize.  I am truly sorry for the hateful, insensitive and untruthful statements that have come from my “family” these past few days.  I am sorry that what they have said and done has made the survivor’s walk through sorrow that much more painful and difficult. I am sorry that we don’t have a way to erase the stupidity of their ideology or the consequences of their actions. But I pray that the rest of my family can do better. I pray that we lead with love and finish with grace.  I pray that we offer comfort and compassion and kindness and mercy day after day after day after day, because this walk with sorrow will be long for many.
There are many walking through sorrow today.  Will we live and speak and act in such a way that it leads to the place where Christ can do His healing work, or will we knock broken people off course into a life filled with anger, frustration and even hate.  May we mourn with those who mourn in a way that leads to healing and wholeness.

What Would You Do for a Miracle?

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.  He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD.  Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm.  Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.”  She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out. – 2 Kings 4:32-37

The prophets of the Old Testament were asked to do some odd things in order for God’s power to be released, and this ranks up there in the weird category.  I am not sure how I would feel if an old bearded man in robes came in and lay down on my recently deceased child, but I am sure I would feel grateful and amazed if it brought that child back to life.  It is the idea of “normal” that gets in the way of us experiencing God more than a lot of other distractions in this life.  I would rather be weird and see miracles than normal and expect nothing.

If I expect God to show up to answer prayers, to provide for my needs, to guide and direct my path, then I have to accept how He decides to show up.  You don’t invite the king over and then complain about what mode of transportation he rode in on; just be happy that the king showed up.  This is something I need to grow in and help my children understand.  They need to have an expectation of God’s power working in and through them without an expectation of how He chooses to do so.

God has given us power through His Holy Spirit to heal the sick, cast out demons and, yes, raise the dead, but He has not boxed in the details of how that gets done.  This indicates that we need to be guided and directed by Him on the process.  It provides another opportunity to be dependent solely on Him rather than some legalized system of healing or exorcism.  Are there rules or guidelines? Absolutely, but there is also a lot of room for God to work in those boundaries, and I want my children to experience the freedom to work with God within His will and ways.

Lord, help me be open to the ways You want to work through me to bring Your miracles about in other’s lives.  May my children grow with an expectation of Your power and an adventurous anticipation of how You want to express Your power in and through their lives. Amen.

What Would You Do for a Miracle?

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, Parenting4 Comments

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.  He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD.  Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm.  Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.”  She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out. – 2 Kings 4:32-37

The prophets of the Old Testament were asked to do some odd things in order for God’s power to be released, and this ranks up there in the weird category.  I am not sure how I would feel if an old bearded man in robes came in and lay down on my recently deceased child, but I am sure I would feel grateful and amazed if it brought that child back to life.  It is the idea of “normal” that gets in the way of us experiencing God more than a lot of other distractions in this life.  I would rather be weird and see miracles than normal and expect nothing.

If I expect God to show up to answer prayers, to provide for my needs, to guide and direct my path, then I have to accept how He decides to show up.  You don’t invite the king over and then complain about what mode of transportation he rode in on; just be happy that the king showed up.  This is something I need to grow in and help my children understand.  They need to have an expectation of God’s power working in and through them without an expectation of how He chooses to do so.

God has given us power through His Holy Spirit to heal the sick, cast out demons and, yes, raise the dead, but He has not boxed in the details of how that gets done.  This indicates that we need to be guided and directed by Him on the process.  It provides another opportunity to be dependent solely on Him rather than some legalized system of healing or exorcism.  Are there rules or guidelines? Absolutely, but there is also a lot of room for God to work in those boundaries, and I want my children to experience the freedom to work with God within His will and ways.

Lord, help me be open to the ways You want to work through me to bring Your miracles about in other’s lives.  May my children grow with an expectation of Your power and an adventurous anticipation of how You want to express Your power in and through their lives. Amen.