Ultimate Healing

I nearly missed the forest for the trees. I sat distracted from the opportunity to passionately worship because I was too wrapped up watching the guy in front of me. He sat while everyone else stood. I noticed his crutches on the floor… he was unable to stand. Next to his crutches was a dog…a yellow lab. It appeared to be a seeing-eye dog, as he was wearing a vest that said, “Please don’t pet me, I’m working.” I began to feel sorry for this guy.

I then noticed his hands, his malformed hands. They were the closest things to a ‘lobster claw’ that I have ever seen on a human. His pinky and his ring finger were one. His middle finger and pointer were also one…forming a claw. I felt amazing compassion for this man. This man is blind, lame and malformed.

Questions began flooding my mind. What must his life be like? What does his life look like day to day? My compassion turned to irritation as I found myself distracted from dancing in fields of grace and instead had been directed at this man in front of me. God had a lesson in store for me.

His hands began to slowly raise towards Heaven...both of them. And then in an instant I felt like I was being jerked back into reality. I was reminded that I was in a church service and there was passionate worship surrounding me. His hands that resembled claws were raised before his King. A tear began to form in my eye.

As I became cognoscente of where I was and what I was singing, I realized that he extended his malformations towards Heaven as the song “Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord” began. Tears no longer formed, they were rolling.

Here was a man who seconds before I was feeling sorry for, raising his hands singing, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you.” He longed to see his Dad. He longed to see anything. My guess is that he has seen his Daddy in his spirit more clearly than most of us. Light began to exude from a man who knows no light.

I began cheering for this guy. I imagined the day of his entrance before his Father…ushered into the presence of a God who reaches down and gently restores his hands, his walk and his sight. I began to imagine what that day would be like for this man.

Imagine having your eyes awakened for the first time, to see colors never seen before…eyes that will look into the eyes of your Savior for the very first time. Imagine holding the face of your Savior with restored hands…gently stroking the beard of your Father. I imagined him getting a feel for his new legs, dancing before the Lord…hands lifted spinning and spinning and spinning.

Imagine you doing the same.