Saved
How far would you go to save someone you love?
When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet's own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. - John 4:43-54
The royal official in today's Gospel reading sought out Jesus when his son was dying.
Where do we go when all hope is gone?
We cannot go to Jesus and have him intercede in person, so we have to rely on prayer. And prayer works just as well as an in person visit.
It may not work as quickly. Though we don't really know how long it took for the royal official's son to be fully restored to normal. Healing takes time, and that may be why we tend to discount the value of prayer.
If we expect immediate results, we may be disappointed.
I guess it matters how we look at things, too.
If we look for tiny improvements from day to day, and we rejoice in those, then we are not as frustrated by how long it takes to be restored.
But if we focus on the things we cannot do, and see each day as torture, we will work against the power of the prayers working within us.
It is hard to stay positive when someone you love is suffering, but if we have faith, then all we can do is what the official did, know when to call on Jesus for help.
More to come...