Universal Health Care blog #5
Prompt: Can one be cured through the power of
prayer?
“Sometimes
my plans fail, but God always gives me better options.” –Unknown. When I was
fifteen years old I got into a four-wheeling accident that threatened my life.
I went through barb wire and had to receive 300 stitches in my neck, leaving me
with a lifelong scar from jaw line to jaw line. The barb wire cut into my neck
two millimeters away from my carotid artery, which is about the width of a
nickel. Yes, I came the width of a nickel from dying at the age of fifteen. On
some days I will keep a nickel in my pocket, and every time I feel it I thank
God for the life that I have been given.
This
experience taught me many things, but most of all that God has a plan for me,
and that plan was not ready to end at that point in my life. I pray every day
that I am alive. Unlike many other individuals, I rarely pray for something
that I need or that I want. I don’t ask
God to grant me blessings or to protect my family. I thank him for his blessings, and for always protecting my family.
Praying, I believe, does not cure. At least from my experiences and all that I
have seen in my twenty years of life, I have come to this conclusion. That is
why I tend to never pray for something to happen in my life or the lives around
me. Yes, there have been moments in my life where I can’t help but pray as hard
as I can for someone to heal from an illness or any other type of cure, but I
also know that God has a plan for everyone and everything happens for a reason,
meaning my prayers may not heal the way I ask them to.
Too
many bad things happen to good people in this world for me to believe in the
reality that we can cure through prayer. I often tell God that I trust him when
I pray, because I do truly believe that whatever comes my way has a reason
behind it and a path ahead. Bad experiences in my life can not alter my faith
if I conclude with the idea that prayer cannot cure what I ask for. If I spend
my life praying for a family member’s illness to be cured and they pass away,
what am I to do? Believe that my prayers just didn’t work this time? No one can
be in the middle answering this question, they must take a side. God does not
sometimes grant prayers and the others He forgets about, I cannot believe in
something like that. God loves all, and he has a plan for every single one of
us. If this plan has obstacles and moments that I don’t understand His ways, I
will endure because I trust the path that God has set out for me. I was not
meant to have my life end at the age of fifteen, His story wasn’t over yet.
“Dear
Lord, I want to take a minute, not to ask for anything from you but simply to
say thank you, for all I have.”
(Hope the trip home went well professor, thank you
for everything you have done for me during our time here in Rome. You had a way
of teaching me how to love it and accept its imperfections all in one. Have a
great summer, and thank you again.)
Great blog Brandi, I enjoyed reading it. I always wondered how you got your scar but I was afraid to ask, thank you sharing. You have a touching story. It really puts things into perspective of how lucky we are to be here and to have the time we do, that we need to praise thanks for the time we do have as it really is a blessing. I had a similar experience when I was involved in a close call car crash. I too agree that prayer does not cure disease. Thanks again for sharing, it is hard to believe we go home Friday.
ReplyDeleteCiao Brandi,
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on prayer, less petition or asking God to intercede, and more gratitude and praise. I am glad I was able to part of your experience in Rome. It was a pleasure! See you soon I hope.