GET WELL SOON

One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?" - John 5:5-6

Thirty-eight years is a long time to lie by the pool and wish yourself well. Yet, as I read those words, I am convicted of my own 40 years of remaining in the muck and mire of a deceitful heart. It was just a short three years ago that I picked up my own mat and finally walked...completely.

What do I mean by completely? I grew up in the church exposed to the Word. It's not as if Jesus just appeared at the pool for the first time in my life at that age. In fact, I performed a partial u-turn ten years earlier as I journeyed through a troubled marriage. During this tumultuous marriage, I clung to Jesus attempting to change my thoughts and patterns and free myself of the strongholds. Yet not giving up all my wordly ways, holding on to a few pet sins and not fully understanding how to trust God caused me to stumble again.

After three years of praying and trying to trust God, my circumstances never fully changed. I gave up. I gave in. And the sin of not accepting my significance in Christ sent me running from God toward the something worse Jesus speaks about to the healed man later in the temple.

In John 5:13, Jesus found the healed man in the Temple and rebuked him with these words: "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." Jesus asks us to make a complete u-turn. Many of us think because we have partially obeyed we have carried out God's instruction in our lives and that we are healed. Yet, even the tiniest of stronghold can pull us back into a life of disobedience.

My delayed full u-turn arrived the day my second husband asked me for a divorce. It was then that I accepted Jesus' hand and asked for the help I needed. I moved to a church where broken people were accepted and I sought out Christian counseling. I rid myself of the unhealthy friends and environments in my life. And I dealt with the root of the problem finally finding my significance in Jesus.

Healing did not arrive overnight. It has been a long three years and the journey is not over. But, I choose to never return to the pool wishing for healing. No longer do I make excuses for my inability to heal. I have picked up my mat and I walk daily with Jesus. This is the cycle of change. And remaining faithful to Jesus is the answer.