Last night, straight after circuit training, I went to a prayer meeting. (Well, I did call in the house first for a quick wipe-down with a wet lettuce and a squirt of perfume.) We were praying for a friend who has just been diagnosed with an aggressive and advanced form of breast cancer.
Now I have a problem here.
I have no trouble believing that God can heal; I just doubt if he will. My experience over the last ten years or so has been that, no matter how much earnest prayer goes in, death is the result.
There are plenty of pat Christian answers to this. God does answer your prayers but he doesn't necessarily give you the answer you want. He did answer: he said no. God sees the bigger picture. It's all part of his plan.
Pah!
We hear about miracles - really obvious miracles like the blind seeing - happening all over the world today; I would love to see that sort of instant miracle. But then again I suspect, within weeks, I would be like Peter or Thomas the Doubter, who spent years with Jesus, seeing amazing things, and yet still they denied and doubted and wondered the truth.
There are so many things I don't understand, I will never understand, and yes, I'm angry at the moment. But I continue to ask God for that miracle. I will cling on, even if it's by my fingertips, to the only one who can be trusted completely.
6 comments:
Nice that you believe in something that's important to you.
(Well, I did call in the house first for a quick wipe-down with a wet lettuce and a squirt of perfume.)
Being American and unfamiliar with Welsh ways, what is a quick wipe-down with a wet lettuce? And please don't tell me it was part of the dinner salad.
Nice post, Liz. I don't understand why, if there's a god, he allows certain things to happen, either. another friend of mine in the UK has just been diagnosed with cancer and she's much younger than me. Perhaps the answer is, simply, that we can't know. I envy you your faith.
I'd need a whole post to explain that one, Steve!
It's true, Welshcakes. We just don't know or understand.
It's what religious people do when asking their god for food to feed the donkey : "Lettuce Bray"
Nice to have come across your blog, Liz. Like you, I experience much in this life that is unfair and I don't understand, but trusting God whatever the circumstances is the only way to experience that peace that passes all understanding.
I agree. Miracles happen, but mostly they don't. People get sick and die. If they're really sick, at death's door, perhaps the best thing is to pray them on their way. Pray to ease the pain, ease the journey, comfort the one dying and those who love her/him.
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