I attended worship night at my church on the first Wednesday night of the month of June. At this service I saw one of my dear friends who had just returned from serving as a missionary overseas. So I began to tell her what the Lord had done in my life since she had been gone. I told her that I had been very sick for many months with no answers as to why. No doctor could tell me what was wrong or how to get better.
Then, one Tuesday night at a young adults gathering at my church I asked if we could pray for answers to this and pray over the procedure I was having the following day that it would reveal what was going on. A few days after the procedure the doctor called with the results and my prayer was answered, I was finally given a diagnosis! The doctor told me I have a rare disease called gastroparesis that has limited treatments and no known cure. My friend then began to pray over me and as she was doing this the words she was speaking reminded me of the story of Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis.
This story begins with Abraham sitting outside of the entrance to his tent. He looked up and saw three men nearby so he went to them and asked them to stay and rest under the tree and he would provide them with something to eat to refresh them. After he placed the food before them they asked him where his wife Sarah was.
He told them that she was in the tent. Then, one of the men told Abraham that he would return about the same time the following year and Sarah would have a son. Sarah was in the tent and heard what the man said and she laughed in disbelief because she and Abraham were both very old. The Lord challenged her disbelief by saying to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And at the appointed time the following year Sarah gave birth to a son whom she called Isaac. Abraham was 100-years-old when Isaac was born.
The words from this story "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" are what came to my mind and made me think of this story as my friend was praying for healing of this incurable disease. It was then that I came to the realization that man may not be able to cure this, but as for the Lord, is anything too hard for him? We're talking about the one who made a woman past childbearing age bear a child, who made the blind see, who made the deaf hear, who made the paralyzed walk, who made the dead come to life, the one who makes the impossible possible. So the answer then is no. There is absolutely nothing too hard for the Lord!
If the Lord can do all of these astounding things then surely he can heal every illness or condition I have which man says is incurable. And surely he can heal and redeem any part of your life that makes you feel broken or in the dark. We all go through difficult seasons in life and maybe you're going through one right now. Maybe you're dealing with an illness, or dealing with divorce, or dealing with the loss of a loved one. Maybe you're in a season of life full of unknowns and you don't know what your future looks like and that scares you. Maybe you're dealing with depression or anxiety. Whatever it may be that you are going through, sometimes these things make us feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. You might say to yourself, "This is just too hard. I can't do this." And you would be right. It is too hard for you alone. But with God, all things are possible. You weren't created to go through these seasons of life, the good or bad, alone. Invite the Lord in, let go and cast your cares upon him. It may be too hard for you, but nothing is too hard for the Lord.
