But What About When He Doesn't?

As soon as I lay back in my bed last night...............after writing my last post...........I thought.....

But what about when God doesn't heal?

What then?

A Healer who doesn't heal?

What to say to that?

And I have been a Christian long enough that I know all the phrases and words of comfort and what you are "supposed" to say, they can flow right off the tongue and there is truth to those words but sometimes they are not a comfort.

Because we all want healing for those we love and for ourselves.

And this weekend we are remembering.

We are remembering two who were not healed, who are not with us.

And it's hard.

Two years ago I got the call.  Two years.  She should be two years old.

But instead she remains a baby to us all and we give out sunflowers, rather than birthday presents, this weekend each year.  An idea formed by my brother and his wife, a way to celebrate and remember their girl, Adalyn Joy, on her birthday each year.

A girl, a baby who was prayed for and wished for and loved upon for so much longer than she was here on earth.

Tomorrow we are walking...........for a heart baby, who just a year ago was being prayed for and had been wished for and was being loved upon.  He spent three weeks here on earth.  And during those three weeks there were so many voices being raised in prayer, voices crying out for healing and miracles.

Please, God, please.

And yet...............this weekend we are remembering these babies, rather than holding these little ones.

What now?

Now?

Now I remember the words of the preacher man who one year ago today was reading the passage about foolishness in 1 Corinthians.  I was a weepy mess the entire service.  I had come with my big bunch of sunflowers, ready to give them out, trying to find a way to convey the grief we were feeling and yet the JOY we were feeling in knowing Jesus and in knowing that Adalyn has a savior and is with her savior.  How do you explain celebrating the death of one so young and so loved and so hoped for?

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
                          - 1 Corinthians 1:19

And yesterday..........I sat, with my bible opened, and I read those words again - the message of the cross is foolishness.......but to those who are being saved it is the POWER OF GOD.

Our belief is not in the healing but in the HEALER.

Our belief is not contingent on outcome but on the knowledge of who GOD is.

Our belief must seem foolish to so many.

Our belief is not that life is lived, exclusively, in the here and now but that life is everlasting.

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify things that are....." 
                           - 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

And so this weekend we are foolishly celebrating the life of Adalyn Joy.  We are foolishly spreading JOY to those around us through sunflowers and good deeds and kindness and thoughtfulness because the message of the life of Adalyn Joy is found in the message of the cross.

Adalyn Joy is healed.  Adalyn Joy is saved.

And it is through the power of God that may believe this and we may rejoice in her life.