Pain and numbness gone

One winter evening, I felt a pain in my stomach. As the night progressed, the pain increased; then I started to feel pain in my arm, and one side of my face began to go numb. I had begun praying when I first felt the stomach pain, but these other concerns made me wonder what was going on. I started to mentally list things I’d heard of that this could be, but I quickly realized that this was more harmful than helpful. I needed to pray. So, as I often do when I’m not sure where to begin, I started praying the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:9-13).

When I came to the words “Thy will be done,” I realized this was a wonderful affirmation, and it became to me a line to hold. If God’s will is done, then there is no other influence or message I need to look to in order to see what is happening. In the Bible, we have this beautiful declaration that the divine will is entirely good: “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). And the psalmists, prophets, and Christ Jesus consistently describe God as good.