Healing

Christian healing is a process that involves the totality of our being; body, mind, emotion, spirit, and our social context - and that directs us toward becoming the person God is calling us to be at every stage of our living and dying. Whenever we are truly open to God, some kind of healing takes place, because God yearns to bring us to wholeness.

Through prayer and the laying on of hands, through confession, anointing, the sacraments and the other mens of grace, Jesus meets us in our brokenness and pain and there loves, transforms, forgives, redeems, resurrects and heals. Jesus does this in God's time according to God's loving purpose for each person.

Because the Holy Spirit is continually at work in each of us, pushing us towards wholeness, the process of healing is like removing sticks and leaves from a stream until the water runs clear. If we simply get out of the way of the Lord's work in us, we can trust that we are being led to the particular kind of wholeness God wills for us.

Very often, the results of our healing are increased faith in God and a new empowerment to love and serve others. Frequently, we find that the very thing that caused our brokenness beomes transformed into our unique giftedness.

-from Stretch Out Your Hand: Exploring Healing Prayer
by Tilda Norberg and Robert D. Webber