I had been given a divine reprieve to a death sentence. “Enjoy it. It’s a miracle,” the doctors said.
My loving wife said, “Honey, you are cutting yourself off from the Holy Spirit’s comfort and healing hands. Our friends at church miss you and want to hug you and share their love with you.”
I thought, Look at me, I should be by myself.
Tears came to my eyes because I was different. But my gentle wife still looked at me through eyes of love. I had been home from the hospital for a few weeks after a two-month sequence that included blood spitting pneumonia, a massive stroke, and extensive pulmonary embolisms in both lungs.
I wasn’t doing much at enjoying myself as the physicians suggested. I felt more like a damaged vegetable and something you wouldn’t take home from the market. My wife felt I was isolating myself too much, but I felt better being alone and passively watching television.
My angel—having watched me for several weeks after I came home from the hospital—wouldn’t give up. She laid my head on her lap, and I felt Jesus’ warm presence as I had in the Valley of Death. He said, “It is all right my son; I cried too.” As my wife kissed my face, His love filled my broken heart with peace and gratitude.
God’s injured children need different degrees of isolation as a part of recovering from trauma. Whether divorce, death, or disease, time to heal is necessary. But isolation that cuts a person off from the Lord’s healing hands is a scheme of the Devil.
Jesus tells His sheep to “Come unto Me you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). We also need the Holy Spirit’s healing love that flows through the touch and prayers of God’s children. And we can’t get our strength back without the words found in the Bread of Life.
Bring your broken and lonely heart to Jesus and His children. Allow them to touch you. You will find the love and confidence you have lost. Proactive love imparts the cure when you don’t seek isolation or your own desire.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
The Rev. Dr. Bob Segress served as a licensed psychological clinician for twenty-five years. Upon retiring, he served for fifteen years as a prison minister. Retiring again, he began writing full-time after a period of boredom. He has written: The Biblical Approach To Psychology while serving as a college educator, The Shelton Series, and, in 2012, Ten Years Inside Shelton Prison. Currently, he writes for several publications such as Halo Magazine.