Friday, October 8
For I am the LORD that healeth thee.
—Exodus 15:25-27
I’m no Christian Scientist; I believe in doctors and medicine, and I partake of them all too often. But I learned something important when, many years ago, my daughter Anne bit into an electrical cord.
She was about 18 months old. She was in the kitchen, and we had taken our eyes off of her for just a moment. She toddled over to the aquarium we had right at the edge of the kitchen/living room wall, where she dropped to her knees and for some reason tried to take a big bite out of the cord.
I can’t recall if there was a noise of saliva meeting electricity, or just Anne’s scream, but we looked, saw what had happened and, after a quick phone call, raced her to the Burn Unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center in downtown Richmond.
There we were comforted and reassured, but we were faced with our beautiful little daughter with a bottom lip missing a scoop of flesh. We were, of course, anxious to know what treatment would be administered to heal her.
Later that day, or in the days that followed, the doctors finally told us: there would be no treatment. They were confident that Anne’s lip would heal in time. They told us to return every six months for several years. Today Anne is a very beautiful woman in her forties. If you look closely you can see where the wound was. It adds a little exotic touch to her looks. It does not look like a disfigurement. She was made whole by God’s natural healing process.
If you get a sore on your hand, and you wash it and keep it clean, it usually heals. Infection and worsening are usually due to interference with the healing process. The inclination of God’s universe and of our God-given bodies is towards healing. We take this for granted, but I believe Anne’s healing and our frequent “healings” are manifestations of God’s will for us: health, healing and wholeness. He loves us and tends us.
Lord, we thank you for the amazing gift of life; help us to value it and live it fully, to your Glory. Amen.
These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2006.
