Prayer, Healing, and a Word About My Absence

Last updated on: August 24, 2018 at 1:06 pm by Matthew Distefano

Prayer, Healing, and a Word About My Absence 2018-08-24T13:06:43-06:00 Matthew Distefano

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Hey everyone. I just wanted to take a moment to let y’all know why this blog has been relatively inactive these past few weeks. You see, I’ve been dealing with this horrific ear infection that has come and gone for the past year and a half. Recently, it flared back up again to new heights and it was only eradicated a short time ago. On top of that, I’ve been dealing with debilitating depression with a healthy dose of anxiety. So, needless to say, finding the time and energy to write has been difficult. Hopefully I’m at a place in life where that will now change.

That said, what I wanted to leave y’all with is something I wrote for my Patreon supporters the other day. It’s been something I’ve been kicking around in my head for a while now, and thought it would be apropos to include it here. So, without further ado, here’s what I recently had to say to them:

Courtesy of Pixabay

Over the years, I’ve pretty much deconstructed and reconstructed everything I once held to be true. But prayer is one of those things I’m still not quite sure about. On the one hand, I think prayer can be important. On the other hand, I really haven’t much of a clue as to how it works.

You see, I used to believe what most mainline Christians believe: That God listens to our prayers and then decides if it is something that fits within his so-called plans. If, for example, a prayer for a loved one to experience healing is offered up and that person we prayed for gets better, then it is assumed God not only listened but also acted upon our petition. If, however, the person doesn’t get better, then we assume God, for some reason or another, didn’t want them to be healed. That is to say, it didn’t quite fit in with his already laid-out plan.

The problems with looking at prayer in this way are many. Not only does it make God out to be a bit of an asshole, but it tends to disenfranchise those who continue to suffer, leaving them with essentially nowhere to turn. It seems that prayer, then, is one of the biggest reasons folks walk away from the faith entirely.

What if we’ve gotten it all wrong though? What if prayer doesn’t work like this at all? It’s my contention that it doesn’t.

I started really pondering this recently, the minute my daughter Elyse injured her left knee a few weeks prior to dance competition season. She hurt it so bad, in fact, that after a long day of dancing, was unable to bend it or bear any weight on it. Due to this, I did something I hadn’t done in quite a while: I petitioned God to heal her. Hours went by and nothing happened. So, the next day, I took her to see an orthopedic surgeon, who, after x-raying the injured knee, diagnosed her with a tracking issue called patellofemoral syndrome. “Okay, we’re finally getting somewhere,” I thought.

Sill, though, I kept praying. For healing. For pain relief. For something. And yet, still nothing happened. Our next step, then, was to see a physical therapist. Luckily for us, our daughter’s dance coach knew one who specialized in treating dancers. And because our daughter is such a vital part of her team, we got right in to see her. Might I say, this lady was a godsend.

After a brief exam, she questioned the original diagnosis and told us our daughter’s knee was tracking just fine. Instead of patellofemoral syndrome, she thought our daughter simply had an overuse issue with her tendon. So, the PT taped her up, taught me how to do the same, and Elyse was walking just fine within a few hours. The next day, she even participated in some light dancing at the ballet studio.

Now, you may be asking, how does prayer fit in with this story? Well, I’ll tell you.

You see, I think that prayer has nothing to do with petitioning God. That type of prayer sort of assumes God is not already doing something, as if he is just sitting around wanting to heal folks if they would only get the words right, or get their heart right, or something to that effect. True, effectual prayer, then, seems to be more about lining our lives up to the will of God—a will that is always oriented toward healing and restoration—so that we can be the answers to our prayers.

If I think about what transpired with my daughter’s healing, it seems all too clear. God always wanted her to be healed, to be restored. I believe that is why my whole existence since Elyse’s injury was about getting her better. I believe it was God constantly moving me to get to the heart of the issue, to get her to the right folks who would mend her knee. And wouldn’t you know it! That’s exactly what happened. Since the onset of the injury, I didn’t stop reading medical articles, making phone calls, and dragging Elyse all around town to specialists who could potentially help. And not for nothing, but the fact that we so quickly found a physical therapist who was so clued in to the dancer’s body, I can’t help but think that the handiwork of God was at play here. Perhaps it was all coincidence, but I’m not so sure.

So, that’s essentially where I’m at with prayer. I think God indeed heals. I think God moves all throughout this world. I just also think that we’ve been tasked with being the ones who are his hands and feet. We are the ones who need to be the answer to prayers. We are the ones who need to orient our lives toward the healing and restoration of others. And so, if we want to see folks heal, if we want suffering to come to an end, perhaps our prayers need to include less talking and more listening, less petitioning God and more allowing God to petition us.

Shalom, my friends.

Previous Post

August 2, 2018

Nationalism is Division of the Body

Next Post

August 30, 2018 Sin: Christianity's Favorite Three-Letter Word

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Book Review Early Church Eschatology eternal torment Hell Hermeneutics LGBTQ+ Mimetic Theory Mysticism News Old Testament Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Religion Sacrifice Satire Soteriology Theology Uncategorized Violence

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 June 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first Christian martyr mentioned in Acts?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Stephen Philip James Barnabas

Books by This Author Books by All Set Free

See All Titles »