“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” ~Mark 9:21-2
In Mark 9 we read the story of a father whose son has been possessed by an evil spirit. Like any parent, he was desperate to find relief for his son. Also like many people at the end of their rope, he turns to Jesus for help. My favorite part of this story is when the father says, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” At first he seems to be contradicting himself. However, I realized that I live in this state of mind most days. I believe in God and I believe in his provisions for me and my family. On the other hand, I struggle daily with worry, stress, and lack of faith! This constant struggle between my head and heart leads me to pray the same prayer, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”
A few weeks ago, Kieran gave me a good illustration of what it means to fully trust God. He woke up in the middle of the night crying that his ear hurt. I gave him some Motrin and put some drops in his ears. He would not calm down so we prayed and asked God to heal his ear. I took him back to his bed and lay down with him. In a few minutes he was asleep. I dozed off thinking about calling the doctor in the morning. About an hour later, he suddenly woke up and said, “Mommy, my ear doesn’t hurt anymore! The medicine worked…no…God made the medicine work! God’s power is true!!” After his exclamation, he put his head back on the pillow and went to sleep. The next morning, he woke up and said nothing more about his ear.
As our family enters this season of change, we will continue to trust and believe that God’s power is true. We will also be prepared for those days when we will need to cry out, “help me overcome my unbelief!”
1 comment:
Thank you Kieran!!
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