Paralyzed

I have always believed that God prepares us ahead of time for tasks that we must deal with, in ways that we can't even fathom. But it continually amazes me to look back and see God's work in my life and see the truth in Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

At the beginning of May, Ken and I spent a lovely week at the beach together relaxing. I was able to spend more time than usual in God's Word each morning as I sat on the balcony and admired his awesome power and creation as the waves rolled in. I tried to read a few chapters in the New Testament each morning. One morning I started with the 5th chapter of Luke, anticipating reading several chapters before I started my day.

But then I got to Luke 5:17-26. The story of the paralyzed man that was lifted down through the roof where Jesus was teaching. Something just drew me into this story. I read it and reread it. I put it down and then came back to it. Here is some of what I wrote that morning:

While Jesus was teaching, there was a group of men trying to get to him so he could heal a man who was paralyzed. It never really says that the man himself was trying to get to Jesus. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was so lost in despair and disappointment that he had given up. Or he didn't even really know what being in the presence of Jesus meant. Or maybe he did. Maybe he was yearning to be in the presence of Jesus more than anything, but just couldn't get there himself. Scripture doesn't say. It just says that the men were so desperate to have Jesus heal the paralyzed man that they went to the roof and lowered him down through the tiles.

I had always assumed that they were his friends. That they had been witnesses to his life of suffering and cared about him on a personal level. That they were doing everything in their power to get their friend into the presence of the man that everyone said could heal. But maybe they weren't. Maybe they were just passing by on their way to see this Jesus person that everyone was talking about and saw a paralyzed man on a mat. Maybe they just had it laid on their hearts to help this man and went above and beyond to get him where he needed to be. Either way, it is a beautiful story of people helping others by carrying them into the presence of Jesus.

Don't we all know someone who desperately needs Jesus? Maybe someone we know personally or someone we happen to pass on the street? Someone who can't get there themselves? Someone paralyzed by sin? By fear? By being trapped in worldly ways? By addiction or illness? But the good news is that we can bring them to Jesus! 

Three short weeks later, I was the paralyzed man. I couldn't get to Jesus, even though I desperately wanted and needed to run to him. He was there, but I was paralyzed by grief, by fear, by pain, by emptiness, by shock. My core knew that I needed to run to Jesus and find the only peace that I knew to be available as my world fell apart. But I just couldn't get there.

Then, one by one, as my family and friends, and even complete strangers, prayed for me and with me,  Luke 5:19 became real to me. And I found comfort in knowing that each of these people were working to lift me through the roof, through the barriers of pain, to get me into the presence of Jesus. 

I am grateful for every single one of those people, more than I can even express. And I am grateful for a Savior who works all things together for my good, and for the moments that he allows me to see glimpses of his work on this side of heaven. I don't always see how his plan is unfolding, but I rest in the fact that I know that his perfect plan is there.