Whether you are facing a physical, mental, or emotional battle, healing is available through the power of Jesus Christ.
During a season of immense pain, Jenny Simmons couldn’t fathom how she was going to move forward, there was something inside of her telling her to face another day.
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed; I wouldn’t have known how to. There’s not a real good way to explain it, except that I would wake up and it was like something other than me was saying, ‘Get up.’”
“We keep moving and we keep moving forward. It’s not because we’re strong, or because we have all together, or even because our tears of dried up yet – it’s because God is with us.”
The advent season reminds us of our loving Savior’s birth, Emmanuel, which means God with us. Jenny describes how faithful God is to remind us of His presence, especially in seasons of pain and suffering.
“God is with us; He carries us; He walks alongside of us. That doesn’t always mean the brokenness disappears. Oftentimes, that just means that He’s there in morning saying, ‘You have to get up today Jenny. You have to put one foot in front of the next. I’m going to carry you; I’m going to do this.’”
“Being reminded that I really can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Not through Jenny who conjures up strength, or through my husband who keeps us held together…it’s through God Himself who says, ‘I am with you.’”
We are all invited into healing and wholeness, but we have to make a choice.
“Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.” John 5:6-9
Jenny shares her personal insight on this story,
“I remember reading that story so differently after that year of loss. What I really wanted was Jesus to walk into that situation at Bethesda, see all those people, and just wave a magic wand and just say, ‘I’ll make you all better – at once!’ But that’s not what He does. I think it’s really important for us, as believers, to catch what He does there which is He offers an invitation.”
As it was for the sick man at the pool of Bethesda, the invitation to be made well is still available for us today.
“Jesus doesn’t force themselves on people, he doesn’t show it off, but he can heal and make things better. In a lot of situations, he looks a person in the eyes and he offers it to them…it’s an open invitation.”
Jenny Simmons is a dynamic storyteller and people lover who sees God’s redemptive hand at work in the world around her. She is a sought-after musician and speaker that has garnered a devoted blog following for her whimsical and hopeful writing style. She is author of .
Made Well
