The Journey 82: Transformation in the life of sick and suffering

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Read: Mark 7:24-30
“Conversations”. Who does not like conversations. I think the majority of people enjoy doing this– conversing, especially with friends and family. But do you know that there is healing, and the power to change through the gift of conversation?. In March 2005, after allegedly killing four people in Atlanta, Brian Nichols took Ashley Smith hostage in her apartment. For seven hours, Smith, a widowed single mom, in the midst of her ordeal, conversed and talked to Nichols about her faith, her addictions, and the pain that she was going through for regaining the custody of her young daughter. She also began reading to Nichols passages from the well known book "The Purpose-Driven Life." by Rick Warren. As the hours rolled by, Nichols calmed down. Through her conversation she convinced him that his life had a purpose, given to him by God. Smith suggested to him that God's vision for her life,  was to help Nichols see his own purpose in life and that she would want him to finally be a channel in God’s hand- of doing evangelism in in prison. Finally Smith was able to convince Nicholas and he surrendered to the cops. This story was featured on Beliefnet in October 2005. Today, Smith is free from her addiction, reunited with her daughter, and rededicated to her Christian faith. She believes it was God who helped her survive not only the encounter with Nichols, but also to find purpose in life.   
                 This week we are meditating on  the theme “ Transforming the life of the sick and suffering” based on the encounter between Jesus and the Syrian Phoenician woman in Mark 7. As we meditated this week we found out that the method Jesus used for healing the woman’ daughter was very unique. A method where Jesus engages in a dialogue with a woman, who has been subjected to discrimination because of her race and her sex.  The woman engages in dialogue with Jesus Christ and finally her daughter gets healed. In this encounter with woman, another unique aspect of the working of Jesus Christ is the way he empowers the woman  through the power of conversation. Any person who encountered Jesus Christ, had to converse with him, and with the process of conversation, the ultimate result was that the person went away not only healed but totally empowered. When we deal with the people who are suffering and who are going through pain, what they may need,  are people who can be with them, listen to them, converse with them, be empathetic to their suffering and pain. Conversations are not monologue but dialogue, dialogue that brings about change and transformation. Hence let us affirm that every conversation that we use has power,  and let us commit ourselves to use this gift of conversation wisely so that we can bring about change and transformation.
Ready to converse today?                  
 
Let us Pray: Dear God you have given us the ability to converse with everyone. But we use this gift very passively forgetting that we have the power to change and transform through conversations. Give us your grace to do powerful conversations. Amen

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