Recently, I was having a chat with an elderly neighbour in my area and during the conversation, I asked him if he had any prayer requests. Without warning, he burst into tears. Here was I, a twenty-something-year-old girl struck by the vulnerability of this elderly man who used to be a fit police offer working in tough neighbourhoods in the city.
Why was he crying? He was in deep pain from severe arthritis and felt trapped in a body that used to be an ally but now an enemy.
Pain mixed with loneliness is a toxic combination. That’s the kind of pain that not only eats away at your body but your mental resilience and eventually leaves you with nothing but depression. It wasn’t just arthritis weighing my lovely neighbour down, it was the lack of hope and loneliness from having to self-isolate.
Before you skip today thinking ‘oh, I wasn’t sick this year, this doesn’t apply to me,’ I hope you know that your body can be in top shape but your mind be an absolute mess.
“I am the Lord Who heals you.” Exodus 15:26
For some of us this year, God has healed us of many illnesses that would have prevented us from living our lives to the full. Healing can come through medical means or purely miraculous means – either way, we ought to be grateful. That headache you got over so ‘easily’ with two tablets of ibuprofen was the beginning of a battery of tests and brain surgeries for someone else.
All of us, without a shadow of doubt, have experienced some form of emotional/psychological healing this year. Isolation has done a real number on us and it has been hard wearing on the soul. This year we sat transfixed as people created in God’s image were brutalised in different parts of the world for ‘looking different’ or standing up for their rights.
Truth is, like my neighbour, we have all mentally limped throughout this year either due to the global shutdown or personal trauma. I for one know that my mental wellbeing could have taken a bigger hit this year, but the Holy Spirit has been a great source of healing for my mind and emotions.
We are the walking wounded who have managed to survive 2020 so far and it’s only fitting that we say “thank you Lord for binding up our wounds”.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Father, thank you for being my Great Physician in 2020. Thank you for a healthy body and a sound mind.
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Unvarnished 