Just because He loves you...

    Dawn was walking towards a co-worker when she fell. From that day, it seemed that her body began to degenerate. She started falling for no reason and even started experiencing bladder incontinence. Her husband took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal. Some symptoms include among others, back pain, weakness and numbness in the legs and incontinence. Unfortunately, she was told that there was no cure. All she could do was physical therapy and hope for the best. 
    As her condition deteriorated, she became depressed and found it difficult to depend on her faith in God. She reached the point where she did not even want to pray. She felt dark and unfortunately, in spite of treatment, her condition grew worse. 
    One day, she was watching Christian television when she received a word of knowledge. The announcer called out her condition. She was shocked. God told her that he was healing her. He was healing her from the pain and discomfort of the condition and fixing everything that needed to be fixed. She was encouraged to get up and dance and she did just that! No pain! She has not experienced any relapse of her spinal stenosis symptoms. She has been an encouragement to herself and those around her to believe God for their own miracles. 
    She says it was as if a bright light shone on her and that God was saying that He had heard her all along. He had just wanted to give her more. He wanted her faith to increase. She felt as if God was telling her that He knows her body and her mind; He knows when she is weak and when she is strong and He wanted her to know that He loves her.
    I am encouraged by Dawn’s candid admission of her emotions. She admits that she felt depressed because of her condition and that challenged her faith in God. Even as Christians, we may face times when our faith in God is challenged. It’s easy to believe God when things are working out the way we hope but when they don’t, we can begin to doubt God. We may even become angry at Him wondering why He is allowing bad things to happen to us. The reality is, challenging situations don’t always bring out the best attitudes and responses in us, yet, God is faithful. 
    I remember when, several years ago, I honestly told God how I felt about Him because of something I had experienced. I half expected God to strike me down for being so brutally honest, but He did not. I think that’s when I realised that God knows, He understands and He cares. He understood what I was feeling and did not condemn me for it. That’s how God is. He understands our emotions and fears during painful and difficult seasons. He does not expect us to experience positive emotions all of the time. In fact, He created those emotions that we feel. But, He is right there to help us process it all and to make it through that dark season.
    What is also interesting is that Dawn reached the point where she could not pray. I love the fact that although Dawn’s response to her situation was not the nice “christian” one we might expect, that did not and could not motivate God to stop loving her. He reached out to her when she did not even want to reach out to Him. He touched her when she least expected it. In fact, He admitted to her that He allowed her to go through that difficult time because He wanted to develop her, He wanted her to grow.
    God never allows anything bad without having a good reason for it. His Word says that He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). It means that He will allow bad things to happen but for good reason - to make us stronger and more mature in Him. We may not like the negative things we go through, but because God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, we can rest assured that He knows what He is doing. At the end of the day, He is doing more good for us than we can ever imagine.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is not blind or insensitive to the challenges you face. He truly loves you and wants the best for you. Whatever He allows, whether good or bad, He will use to develop you and make you stronger, just because He loves you.​

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