HINDSIGHT & HEALING: HE MAKES THE LAME TO WALK AGAIN

Hindsight & Healing

God is the giver of good gifts.  This Christmas I am thanking God for the gifts of hindsight and healing.  Hindsight is a great gift. It informs giving thanks when we remember how God is faithful.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (2 Cor. 9:8), "God is abel to make all grace abound toward you . . ." The verse goes well with a song sung years ago and reminds me of God’s ability to do remarkable things beyond belief.  The song goes like this:

He’s able. He’s able. I know he’s able.

I know my Lord is able to carry me through.

(Repeat)

He heals the broken hearted, and sets the captives free.

He makes the lame to walk again, and causes the blind to see.

He’s able. He able. I know he’s able.

I know my Lord is able to carry me through.

On June 30 of 2013, I officially stepped down from the privileged post of President of Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia (Canada).  At the time, my health was a train wreck.  It had been deteriorating over the previous two years. The  likelihood was continuing decline.  With the job laid down, Irene and I moved back to the United States and took up residence in Wilmore, Kentucky.  We were then in striking distance to some of the best medical care in the states in nearby Lexington.  My new rheumatologist’s diagnosis of my condition was bleak: “stage four, severe RA, rheumatoid arthritis.”  Great pain accompanied getting out of chairs, buttoning my shirt, working zippers, going up or down even two or three steps at a time, getting out of the car, and even the simplest duties of personal hygiene.  My diet had totally changed to the complete avoidance of any foods that inflamed my body.  Severe pain all the time in every joint was the norm.  Yet, God was faithful.  The pain was a reminder of the pain our Lord when through.  It brought me closer to Christ.

Gluten & Cow Dairy

It’s been two and one half years since and I see clearly God’s faithfulness.  Several things happened along my five year journey from the time in early 2011 when I thought something was seriously wrong.  First, while still in Canada, Irene introduced me to excellent naturopathic physicians who tested me for food sensitivities.  I am allergic to gluten (especially wheat products)and cow dairy (cows milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt).  They rev-up my inflammation like a pottery kiln. Over the years my wife has been amazing at shifting our food selections and diets, finding recipe alternatives, managing the quality of our intake, and avoiding foods that inflame my RA.  This continues today.

Secondly, I was blessed to find an excellent rheumatologist at the Lexington Clinic whose care has been remarkably helpful, actually transformational.  It’s been a gradual process of prescribing integrated amounts of three types of medication (one daily, one weekly, and an IV infusion once every eight weeks).  This combination of meds looks like the path I’ll be on to for the foreseeable future.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, two good friends from my college days, in their lives as pastors, have blessed many with their healing ministries.  Soon after moving to Wilmore, they took an interest in my condition and were willing to lay their hands on me and pray for my healing (one with anointing of oil).

The way I see it, God is faithful.  He engaged four key people as human agency, means of grace, in the improvement of my health.  Today, I am almost completely without pain, only a tweak now and then.  I am totally mobile, no longer crippled.  I am functioning normally, something I thought would never be possible again.  God sometimes heals through a multivariate equation, in my case a combination of the food consumed, medical care received, and the prayers of petition for healing by good friends.  Upon reflection God is faithful.  Now, looking back, this scripture has even greater meaning:

Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more

than we ask or imagine . . . to him be GLORY!

Ephesians 3:20 & 21