Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want

Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want Me to do for you?” // Mark 10:51

With my phone pressed up against my ear, I listened despondently as the doctor shared the results of my most recent procedure. Silently, I ticked off the litany of tests I had undergone since my car accident six months prior. Although I was praying for a shred of insight as to why I had blacked out at the wheel, I wasn’t surprised that this last-ditch effort to unblur the answers confirmed nothing.   

By an outpouring of grace, I offered up the severe fatigue that continued to deplete my strength and disrupt my daily life. The constancy of the cross had clouded my view of Christ as Healer until these words from my spiritual director changed everything: “Cathy, Christ knows you will accept any cross He sends you. But will you accept healing? There’s nothing unsaintly about asking Him to make it better. Maybe this time, He’s guiding you to ask.”  

Father’s insight echoes the story of the blind man in today’s Gospel. Jesus doesn’t just barge onto the scene and make everything better on the spot. Before working a miracle, Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants. And then—and I love this—Bartimaeus doesn’t water down what he wants. In courage and desperation, he casts off his cloak and reveals his deepest longing: “Master, I want to see” (Mark 10:51). And in that moment, daring love births immediate redemption.  

Dear sister, what “cloaks” are shrouding the craters of your heart that need healing? What obstacles are hindering you from telling God what you want from Him? Perhaps it’s an addiction you can’t shake, a disbelief in your own worth, or a fear of being vulnerable. Whether you are burdened by physical illness or debilitating heartache, He wants to heal all. The One Who plumbs the depths and penetrates the heart (see Sirach 42:18) already knows our deepest desires, but intimacy flows when we name our unmet needs in His presence.  

In prayer today, cry out His Name, and when He says, “What do you want Me to do for you?” be honest. And boldly believe that He will do it.