However, we are all on different paths and God may want some people to manage their conditions and sometimes he does this as Paul case shows. Jesus said that his grace was sufficient for Paul and that God's power was to be magnified through his weakness and that God would shine a light into his conditions to magnify his name to let people know that God is with us and is just (2 Corinthians 12:7–9). I am managing my autism with God as an autistic Christian and God managed my eating disorder in the past. Trying to fit this mould at times of doing more than what I could when it was understood by God for my eating disorder tied me up in knots that wasn’t good for my holistic health.
I was thinking today of the Cinderella shoe story and trying to find that perfect shoe to fit that view of recovery some of us have- trying to force ourselves to try and mould and fit into this conception of a perfect fit, recovery and life. Some of us need to manage our present state instead of trying to fit into a shoe that you was not made to fit. Sometimes healing may happen for someone decades later without asking as can happen as well, so some of us may want to stay hopeful on that. You can also to work on spiritual wholeness for the body, mind and spirit as opposed to healing. Some church's are also now offering wholeness and healing services.
Christ’s healing was the exemplar showing us that he is the Son of God. Healing and miracles are still happening today as well, some of us are comforted in our present states in this condition by the Holy Spirit through experience and are under grace by God. Grace I see as God’s pure love for his people and understanding of their plight and human need and frailty against his strength the carrier or their burdens. Through repentance and remission of our sins we can have eternal life as well and there can be a place for us to feast with Christ. This is the very heart and nature of God-this simple love unbounded which is given to set us free.
There are Saints too who were not healed of their conditions and miracles which have been attributed to them in Heaven, which clearly shows that they were Holy people and not a grave sinner for having a condition. God said also it was a mistake for Job’s friends for calling him a sinner for having a condition (Job 16:2).
In the New Testament for one boy with Epilepsy/Seizures before medication was used to treat this condition in the New Testament the cure for this condition was prayer and fasting to drive out the spirit (Matthew 17:21). A Blessed called Amadeus IX of Savoy suffered from epilepsy and God blessed them and gave them grace. As would be expected they also followed the prescriptive steps in the New Testament to cure this condition. They lived with this condition and miracles have been attributed to them. For Amadeus the answer for him was to remain with condition despite his strong faith and fasting which ended in a life of physical suffering and grace to eternal life.
This shows how different two people's paths can be who suffer from the same condition. One person may be called to follow a path of healing and one may be called to serve God and live with their condition with God's blessing and grace and this will be God's will. This will also apply to some other conditions.
In Pia Matthew's book God's Wildflowers documents 141 Saints, Blessed and Venerable, who experienced health challenges ranging from mental to physical pain whilst serving God in holiness. As the author states in this book. Illness doesn't prove holiness and neither destroys or causes holiness. Furthermore, although illness may make things challenging at times, illness doesn't cause these Saints, Blessed and Venerable, to be abandoned by God.
God loves you and cares. Perhaps also some of us who are in this condition may gain comfort from saying the Serenity prayer for those living with conditions or who are in recovery.
Serenity Prayer
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
