Faith in the waiting

When healing has not yet come.

A reflection on hope, sovereignty, unanswered prayer and how the Church can love people well without making their illness a measure of their faith.

I believe Christ can heal. I also believe His presence is not absent from the lives of those who remain ill.

Those convictions sit together, even when the tension between them is uncomfortable. I do not need to deny the possibility of healing in order to speak honestly about the reality of not yet being healed.

“I believe God can heal me. I believe God is still with me while I am waiting.”

The Church and the unresolved story

Churches often know how to celebrate a testimony with a clear ending. Someone was ill, people prayed, healing came, and the community rejoiced. We should rejoice.

But many people are living in stories without that ending. Their condition remains. Their capacity changes. They may continue to pray while also grieving what has been lost.

People in the waiting need to be included without being pressured, believed without having to perform their suffering, prayed for without becoming a project, and loved for who they are.

Faithfulness before outcome

My responsibility is not to manufacture an outcome. My responsibility is to remain faithful: honest before God, open to prayer, wise about my health and available to whatever purpose may emerge from this season.

The outcome belongs to God.