"What do you want to do when you are well?" my new doctor asked me. I had gone through the emotionally exhausting routine of seeing yet another new doctor so many times, but I had never been asked this question.
"Dance," I said. "I want to dance again," I told him without hesitation. Though I didn't think it was very possible, especially not without pain and exhaustion afterward. Chronic illness had not only taken away my strength, energy, and health, but also all opportunity to enjoy the beautiful forms of creative expression that I loved.
Every Easter I would ask for the same thing: healing.
"Please, God, give me new life. Manifest Your Resurrection in me, even in my body." Year after year and during every season, I was praying for this intention.
And still, no. Still chronically sick. Still baffling doctors who gave me bandaid recommendations to ease my mysterious symptoms. Through many Easters, some better than others, I was still asking, but still without answers and without much relief.
Over a decade after my first appointment, it was a beautiful day when I was able to share the joyous news with my doctor. "I wanted to tell you," I said with a big smile. "I'm dancing again."
"And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it" (John 8:31).
How do you want God to manifest His Resurrection in you? How do you want to praise God and express your aliveness through the gift of your body, mind, and spirit?
Keep asking, sister. Keep asking Him for what you want. God will do it in His time.
God will do it in His time. // Mary Catherine CraigeClick to tweet
God, grant me the patient hope to experience You manifest in me.