Healing in the wilderness...

Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
​~ Matthew 6:9 - 13
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Healing can take place in many ways. The wounds that we experience in our life can remain for many years, even until the time we die. Often my conversations with those who are wandering through the valley of the shadow of death, are filled with the experiences of wilderness moments; when the wounds are named and are finally brought to light.

Healing is often more about surrendering than fighting. While I've seen people who have been hurt use the experience to make changes through the anger created, there is also vulnerability in the process. So often when someone is wounded, it takes the telling of the story of how the wound was encountered, in order to come out of the experience changed. It's through the process that the person can be healed.

When talking about healing, our woundedness, and how we move beyond, I am reminded that we must surrender our preoccupations and invite God to travel with us.

Even when we wander in the wilderness, one foot in front of the other, while believing that manna will fall, and rocks will spring water, we are being met by a God that heals us of our wounds, even at the hour of our death.

I often find that during Lent I am reminded that Jesus' woundeness provided the way for us to be healed. By walking with us, Jesus knows of the wildnerness experience, and how our need for healing and wholeness is something we seek always. Through our own vulnerability, we invite that same Jesus to see our own need for healing. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," is our invitation to come out of that wildnerness experience, and into the a place where healing can and does take place.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018