While many of us are writing out lists of resolutions to make in the new year (I think surviving 2020 should make us exempt from having to make any), many of us are waiting on God for a breakthrough in a certain area of our life. I know I am. Do you ever wonder why God heals some people miraculously overnight while the rest of us have to wait it out in faith and heal little by little? I often wonder that. I’ve come up with some reasons for why healing and deliverance often follow the latter.
He wants us to rely on Him wholeheartedly. While it’s easy to say that we would press into Him even more if we were set free from a major burden, maybe we wouldn’t. Maybe we’d get a little too big for our britches. Maybe we would see less of a need for Him. When we have to depend on Him for our needs, we are seeking Him with our whole hearts.
He wants to use our trial as His testimony, and that can take time. God has a perfect plan for each one of us and the burdens we carry. Maybe He needs us to walk it out longer than we would want so that He can use our experience for His glory. He wants to make sure that when we’re delivered and healed, the world knows that it’s by His grace, first and foremost.
He wants us to use our burden to help others who are similarly situated. When we’ve been there, we can relate. We can offer compassion to a homeless person if we were once homeless. We can use our life experiences to help others in some way. Lots of ways. God is super creative when it comes to using our weaknesses to help others if we are willing to let Him use us.
He thinks that we are not ready. There is perfect timing in God’s Kingdom, and if we’re not ready (as He sees fit), then we could blow it all away. Yes, that applies to healing. Sort of like healing a man of lung cancer, only to have him pick up a pack of cigarettes the next day.
I’m sure there are other reasons, but these are what I hold fast to when I start to feel discouraged. Over the last ten years, my adrenal glands have ran themselves down to a point of insufficiency. Every winter, my body produces little cortisol. Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone that helps you cope with life. When you don’t have enough, it can feel like you have the flu 24-7 and everything feels emotionally overwhelming. God gave me major deliverance last winter—after my adrenals crashed—by leading me to a Christian naturopathic doctor who created a unique adrenal glandular cortex made from bovine (because I tried others) that actually worked. Three months later, my adrenals were functioning normally and I was able to stop the hormone for six months. While I’m tempted to feel discouraged that they’re starting to decline now, I choose to remind myself of the healing He gave me last year and the healing that He will bring me this year, even if it is gradual. Even if it’s a little bit of healing at a time, I will rejoice and give thanks.
Don’t lose hope in your healing. Declare that it’s coming in 2021, even if it’s only a layer. God often heals us like onions. A layer can be a really good thing and a breakthrough in and of itself. I know that I’m ready for my next layer of physical and emotional healing. “Jesus, thank you for our layers of healing in 2021!”
