Pain in my abdomen twisted my smile.
"Why is it so hard to be a woman?"
I asked two youths from our church to be my guest story tellers. They agreed, so we went. Trying not to mind it much, but there is always that soft touch of delight when you hear excited,tiny voices announce your name. Eager,little bodies swarmed around us.
"Shall I continue to pamper my physical pain and spoil the glee on their little faces?"
Story-telling began. Nervous, the youth stammers and darts worried looks at me. I smiled to urge her to keep going.
"I felt the same way before."
Slowly, the story unfolded.
"Knowing the real need, Jesus forgave the sick man's sins"
People were amazed and the Pharisees were indignant.
"How dare he..."
Don't we show the same 'how dare he' attitude when we question God' way of dealing with us? Numerous times, we don't ask, but only tell him what we think we need.
"Which is easier -to say to the sick, 'your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'arise, take up your bed, and walk'? But so that all may know that I have divine power to do both,..."
Jesus has power to heal all manners of sickness, both physical and spiritual. Isn't that one of the wonderful facts about Him? What made it more interesting is the fact that though we don't ask, Love, Who is a Person, meets our real needs.
"So, that's the moral of the story?" a girl interjected.
I felt myself winced at those words. Jesus is not the 'moral' of Bible stories. He is the reality of them.
"Dear Lord, show Yourself real to me--to them."
The story came to a close with the healed man's word's of rejoicing;
"My sins are forgiven! I'm healed! glory be to God!"
