The Great Healer

A new week began today, but I don't know where to begin here.

Our pastor is still in the hospital.
My friend Judy's Alzheimer's has progressed to the point where her husband needed to move her into an assisted-living facility.

News from the Zeller family is bad becoming worse (read the blog Charlie's Song for the details).

And my husband today came home late from work because he helped a young mom and her four-year-old son find a place to stay for the night.

And my heart cannot even express the injustice I feel about all this. My chest aches with a different kind of pain. When I was young, I wore my heart on my sleeve and wondered, "Why is it so hard for the world to live happily and peacefully?" The answers were so obvious to me. Then when my own heart got trampled on, I wanted to hide my heart forever and stop caring.

But God doesn't stop caring. Ever. And I have learned that He doesn't want us to stop caring either. Ever. And it does hurt. It hurts to care. It hurts to love. It hurts to give. It hurts to see injustice. But remember that God is the great Healer. It was Misty Zeller who reminded me of this verse: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3) Yes, God can heal our pastor. He can heal Judy. He can heal the Zellers. He can heal the lives of the homeless mom and her son. And He can heal my heart when it feels trampled upon.

Compared to many people, I have suffered little, which makes it easier for me to turn my back in apathy when others suffer, or to throw my hands in the air and shout, "What's the use? There is nothing I can do!" But there is always something I can do. I can pray. I can give, no matter how little. And I can care, with my heart on my sleeve, and carry the burden of pain.


It used to be
My heart was free like a sparrow
Flying wherever it would
It rested on my shoulder
Then went to the people it chose

But over time
When my heart returned to me
Its wings were ragged and torn
So I caged my little bird
To keep it away from harm
Away from harm

Then one day
I saw my heart in the open
You had found the key
What's a heart if it's grounded?
It needs to love, to be

But I asked
What about the danger
The storms, the wind, the rain
You opened your hands to me
"I can heal every pain,
Heal every pain."