Recently, I went with my dad to his VA mental health appointment. Because of some of the medication he is on, he is required to see this doctor every few months. She checks to make sure he is sleeping well, eating right, living productively, and that medications he needs are working for his benefit. This doctor always tells my dad how wonderful he looks. He never drank alcohol, never smoked, never took drugs. Dr. L is always so glad to see him because his life has been lived by faith. She is encouraged by his many years in the ministry and that he is doing well in life. He has not forgotten the Viet Nam War, but he has worked hard to put the past behind as much as possible. We talked about when she was young in her career. She used to take it personally when she could not help every patient to the fullest capacity. She had chest pains early on in her work and believes that if she had kept taking on blame, losing sleep over what she felt were her failures, she would not be alive today. “One day”, she shared, “God spoke to my heart and told me I was trying to do His job. It is God’s job to heal. God put me in this place to be His helper, to pray for the ones He sends my way, and to tell people that God loves them.”
It is God’s job to heal. It is His job to bring back the wandering, to bind the broken, to strengthen those who may be spiritually ill. We were put in a particular place to guide the broken in heart to the Heart Healer, to pray for the ones in need of the Great Physician, and to tell them that God loves them. No matter our profession in life, we will never be qualified enough to make another person whole. When we take on that responsibility, we take the place of God which can lead to despair when results are not as we wish them to be. To reach out with care and compassion is what we are called to do. Pressure is lifted when we let God have His perfect place and when we are faithful to keep a proper perspective.
let your mind run on them any more than you can help; drag your thoughts away from your troubles—by the ears, by the heels, or any other way, so you manage it; it’s the healthiest thing a body can do; dwelling on troubles is deadly, just deadly—and that’s the softest name there is for it. You must keep your mind amused—you must, indeed.”
Instead of going to bed tonight with all the things that could possibly go wrong, what if I imagined all the things that God could possibly make right? Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
