A Healing Journey:
Things Aren’t Always As They Seem!
Scripture: Mark 3:35–42
Fifteen years ago today, a chaplain came to my husband
and I in the hospital room where we sat waiting in bewilderment. She wanted us
to be prepared. Our newborn baby girl had just been taken to the neonatal
intensive care unit. The chaplain was concerned that our daughter might die,
just as another infant with a similar condition had done. But things aren’t
always as they appear. What neither she, nor we, knew is that two weeks
earlier, a circle of women had begun to pray for this baby’s safe delivery in
response to God’s prompting that there would be some challenges at birth. God
intended for this child to live.
I can imagine the despair that gripped his heart when
Jairus heard the news that his precious child was dead. But things were not as
they appeared to be. Jesus knew the child’s true condition. “Do not fear, only
believe,” He said to Jairus, as He beckoned him and his wife, along with three
of His close disciples into the room where the young girl was “asleep.” There
Jesus took her by the hand, and spoke to her, “Little girl, get up.” With His
gentle healing touch, the little girl arose.
Something in your life may seem to be dead, maybe a
relationship, or maybe the dreams you had for your life. Today write down those
things that you think are “dead.” Read each one and follow each reading with
the words of Jesus to Jairus—and to you: “Do not fear, ____[insert your name],
only believe!”
Prayer: Lord, resurrect all that appears dead in my life. I
believe; help my unbelief!
The Reverend Joanne Browne Jennings
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