Do you want to be healed?

As I spend time with Scripture, I am often finding that I am rephrasing the questions. Further dialogue needs to be developed.

For instance, I was struck with the question I read today, "Do you want to be healed?" Well, of course, a person would also answer "yes," but a person might not always mean "yes." Let me explain. Everyone wants to be healed, but the question is, "Do you want to do what is necessary for your healing?"

Healing is a process and it takes hard work and much time. When we have physical harm, like surgery, we are not healed overnight. In surgery, first the body is angry that it has been invaded, but in short order it decides it is going to help the body heal and become whole and it decides to work towards restoration. It will do what it can to close up the wound and get us back to the pre-surgery state, but then it is up to us to complete the hard work of physical therapy. Patients are most successful if they follow the recommendations of the physical therapist.

The same happens with our spiritual healing. We are not healed overnight and we cannot do it on our own, but we have to open ourselves up to the Lord (and trusted experienced guides) for guidance and prescriptive steps. Just as physical therapy is tiring and painful, so is spiritual healing. In both scenarios, we want to take the easier steps and forego the rigors that are required for restoration.

The healing of memories are painful and we often do not want to enter in the pain again, but it is what we have to do. It won't go away until we look at it with the Lord. I wonder what this says about our desire for healing. It is not just something that can happen to us. As Ignatius says, we must turn over our control (will/liberty), memory, and understanding to the Lord, who can do marvelous things with them. It is not that he keeps them for himself, but he will give them back to us in proper order.

With memory, when we hand it over to him, he is able to re-member our remembrances and then give it back to us fixed or in a state where we can move forward. He gives it back to us in re-ordered form so that we can act in freedom again. He is able to give them to us with his insights and perspectives, if we choose to listen to them and accept his words. His words are healing, but then we are to alter our perspectives and actions so that we can live in relationships the way he intends.

Healing occurs when we offer ourselves to the Lord and accept his help. The pain can be transformed and it can be instructive. The spiritual therapy that follows the surgical intervention is required work, but the results are certainly worth it.