If God doesn’t heal you, does that mean that you don’t have enough faith?

I hosted a podcast called Health Matters where I interviewed leading health experts. Kimberly Rae is an Amazon bestselling author who lives with Addison’s disease, talks about health from the “other side” in her Sick & Tired series, including Laughter for the Sick & Tired and Why Doesn’t God Fix It?

Her insights into life with illness will encourage those who have a chronic condition and help those who are healthy better understand. Find out more at www.kimberlyrae.com.

How is life different for a chronically unhealthy person than somebody who is healthy?

“It’s interesting to me that for a lot of us, it doesn’t show. They say that one out of every two people — at least in the country that I’m in — have some type of chronic condition, but for a vast majority of them, it doesn’t show.

“We look like we’re healthy but our lives are totally different because of illness. It’s hard to explain how much it affects our daily life and our choices. It’s like when you have young children at that baby age when your whole schedule has to adapt to the baby’s schedule.

“When you go someplace you have to bring all this paraphernalia to make sure you are well prepared for the food and the diapers, and what if this happens and what if that happens. If the baby starts crying you can’t say, ‘I’m taking a break right now I’ll get to you later.’ You have to deal with it when the need arises. Life with chronic illness is that way.

“Our schedules are totally defined by it, our activities and our choices. We have to say no a lot when we want to say yes. We have to stay home when we want to go places. We have to admit that we need things when we don’t want to.

“It’s not something that we choose or that we want — we’d get rid of it if we could — but it’s something that God’s chosen for us and so we have to learn to live with it. It’s hard sometimes trying to explain this is my new life now. This is different than my life was before but I don’t look any different.”

As a Christian some people say, “Well, you don’t have enough faith. That’s why you’re not getting healed.” What would you say to that?

“That’s what I’ve been told. That’s the hardest time. When you have to struggle with not getting defensive.

“To be honest, it sent me straight to the scriptures, which is never a bad thing, because I wanted to know is that what God thinks? In Why Didn’t God Fix It I had written all of these chapters on things that I learned and encouragement, but when I finished the book (or thought I finished it) I realized there are a couple of verses in the Bible — the ones that people use — that I didn’t touch because I didn’t know what to do with them.

“When you are sick you ask the Lord and God said no. What does that mean? Does that mean that I don’t have enough faith? I realized if I’m going to write this book, if I’m going to write it right, I’m going to have to go there.

“And so the back of the book is an entire study through the book of Matthew where I went through every single verse where somebody was healed and I studied what did it mean, what was it for, what did He say.

“I discovered that Jesus healed for different reasons and He did it in all sorts of different ways but there was never one time when He said a person could not be healed because they individually did not have enough faith. Sometimes it was a friend’s faith.

“Sometimes it was a father’s faith. The only time He said he wasn’t healed because you didn’t have enough faith was when the disciples didn’t have enough faith not the person himself. And a lot of times he healed people who were unconscious or even dead. So they couldn’t have enough faith to be healed.

“So the measure of faith is not the parameters in the scriptures. What I discovered was that in the end, people that say that your life is supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be comfortable if you have enough faith say that everything will be fine, they’re not actually following the scriptures.

“The scriptures say that we’re going to have trials, we are going to suffer, we need to bear our burdens and if it means that you’re living in sin when things are going rough than all of the disciples and John the Baptist and especially Jesus would fit in that category.

“I’ve learned to go to God instead of saying, ‘Heal me, heal me, heal me’ which I would love it if He did and I know He could any second if He wanted to go with the prayer that Jesus prayed. Jesus, even Himself, once prayed, ‘Take this away from me. I don’t want to suffer this.’ But then He ended His prayer with, ‘Not my will but Yours.’

“I know that if I love God enough instead of saying, ‘Heal me to show everybody that I have enough faith’ or ‘Heal me because I’m tired of this’ or ‘Heal me so I can serve You better,’ but I need to say, ‘Your will is more important than mine.’

“I get to be healed all of eternity. If He wants me to be sick here because for some reason, I can honor Him better, than if I love Him, I’ll choose that.

“I’d rather glory in my infirmities and have the power of God rest on me. And that’s one thing He taught me from leaving missions. I realized I was finding my identity in my service for God and to me that’s what gave me worth. And I think God shut me down because He wants my message to be that your worth is in that God made you and Jesus loves you enough to die for you and it’s not about how much you’re accomplishing or whether you’re accomplishing anything at all because you belong to Him, you matter.

“I wanted to be all competent in doing all these things and impressive, and feel significant because I was doing something significant. But instead I am happy to learn to have my significance in Him. And that’s not a bad thing.

“In the end, the Bible says it’s good that I’ve been inflicted so that I learn your statutes. I am learning more about Him because I have to keep seeking Him through this illness than I would have if I was competent and healthy and could do all the things I wanted to do.”

How can we pray for those we love who live with illness?

“Oh God bless those who pray for those who live with chronic illness. It’s interesting to me — what a good thing to ask — because you always will pray that they get better.

“But I would say that if you know someone with chronic illness the most important things to pray for would be for their spiritual and emotional health even more than their physical health. Because when this is forever and you think okay God please heal me but I’m pretty sure that He’s not going to, this is my cross to bear.

“But the emotional strain that comes with it, having to explain to people why you can’t come and they say, ‘This is an exception. Can’t you just do this’ or ‘It’s all in your head’ or ‘Maybe you should just…’ or ‘Try this oil’ or whatever that will solve your problems.

“The emotional strain of trying to continually be fit when people want you be better.

“And then the spiritual battles. You know when you’re up in the night and you haven’t got enough sleep and the devil comes at you with all these thoughts. I would say that’s the hardest part of chronic illness; the way it effects your mind and your heart even more so than your body.

“So we need prayer for endurance and strength and that we will accept that His grace is sufficient.”

Talking with Kimberly reminded me to keep my suffering friends and family in my prayers.

Although the podcast is no longer available, if you’d like a copy of any of the full interview transcripts, please send me an email.

This has been an excerpt from the Health Matters Podcast, believing that prayer & Bible study are to the spirit what exercise and healthy eating are to the body.

Blessings on your journey to health.