You’ve heard me say it a million times…“Everyone needs healing.” But on days when I really allow that truth to sink into my heart, I find myself responding to the world around me with a new level of grace and love.
This past Sunday morning started out rough for me. On Saturday night, I woke up just a little past midnight and never went back to sleep. Sundays can be long days for me, and my routine is very important. But as I prayed throughout the night, I really felt God prompting me to remember something in the midst of the message prep, the long hours, and the routine: Everyone needs healing.
I go to bed the same time every Saturday night. 9:00 on the nose.
I wake up the same time every Sunday morning. 4:30 a.m. like clockwork.
I eat the same breakfast and follow the same rigid routine that helps me navigate speaking five times each Sunday.
However, this past Sunday morning as I went through the same McDonald’s drive-thru as always at exactly 7:05 a.m. to get my predictable bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, I received an unexpected knock on my truck window.
I recognized her face immediately. It was a former homeless lady who we’ve helped over the years at Cross Point. In fact, I wrote about her in Plan B, and she’s really come a long way. But recently, she’s been struggling again. She was cold, hungry, and desperate for a ride. The idea of not getting to my office on time on a Sunday morning really threw me for a loop.
Then I thought, Everyone Needs Healing.
I reluctantly told her to get in the truck, and I would give her a lift.
Of course the, “just down the street” ride she requested turned into a 25 minute round trip for me. We had a great conversation though, and as she got out of the car, I prayed with her, held her hand, looked her in the eye, and said, “We believe in you. You know that, right?” She didn’t respond but tears started to well up in her eyes.
Later that morning after one of our services, I met a lady I would guess was in her 30s. She was quiet, extremely shy, and wouldn’t look me in the eyes. She just stood there staring at the ground. My first thought was, ‘Come on lady. If you want to chat, let’s chat. If not, there are other people in line’ (amazing just how pre-occupied and heartless I can be sometimes).
Then I thought, Everyone Needs Healing.
I gently put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Are you okay ma’am?” She was not okay. In fact, she would go on to tell me the horrifying story of how her father forced her to have sex for over five years with her own brother so he could watch.
How do you respond to that? My heart broke for her.
I could go on and on. All day long, person after person, conversation after conversation, I was reminded of just how desperately we all need healing.
I’m wondering what would happen today if all day long you simply remembered, “Everyone needs healing”?
Would it change the way you talk to the guy at the gas station?
Would it change how you respond to the person sitting in the cubical next to you?
How about the friend that’s been driving your crazy lately?
Everyone needs healing. Everyone.
