The miracle of spiritual healing is, perhaps, the greatest miracle that God can bring about in your life. No matter how bad you are, God can heal you; and no matter how good you are, you still need healing for no one is perfect. The greatest obstacle to spiritual healing, it seems, is fear: that lurking vulnerability and dread of exposure that lies buried within. Only God, in His goodness, can remove that barrier to His unconditional love and healing.

We can draw inspiration from the experiences of those we know and those we read about in the scriptures who took the plunge to let go and let God. My friend, Jane (not her real name), is a good example of someone who found the strength, in spite of her human weakness, to find healing by letting go and letting God.

This is her story:

I usually start my day with a simple prayer. I don’t regard myself as any different to anyone else but I try to read the Bible as much as I can. It has been a part of my life and my source of strength in times of trial for some time now.

I’ve lived through some very difficult trials in my life, and if it wasn’t for my faith I don’t know how I could have survived. There are times when I felt weak, insignificant and alone like I was abandoned to the wiles of my enemies. My own imperfections led me to constantly dwell on negative feelings because of what I was going through. Thus I focused on the mistakes I made, on what I did wrong, and on the mistakes of others. The consequence of this was that I held bitterness and resentment in my heart, and I didn’t know how to get rid of these feelings.

Even as I believed God could help me, which I learnt from my childhood, I could not enable or even allow my emotional wounds to heal. Hurtful memories kept coming back and I could not forgive myself. There were times when I wanted to give up entirely but then, in some strange way, God filled my heart with so much hope I had to keep going. It just came to me that He could heal me of my hurtful memories if I let Him.

But, how could I do that?

Well, I realized I was relying too much on my own efforts, and I had to let go and let God. By surrendering to Him, God showed me the right path by cultivating peace in my heart. I surrendered everything to Him and let Him control my life. There was nothing else I could do: I was a wreck. I sought Him with all my heart and began to read and trust in His word. I asked the Lord to renew my faith in Him. I was lost and I knew He would never give up on me. His word became a beacon to lead me out of darkness into the light, from hurt to healing.

I prayed to the Lord to reveal His purpose in my life. He obliged by using my weakness to fulfill His promise of new life in me. I began to change. I no longer was afraid of my weaknesses or my past or any sins I committed or anything I failed to do. The Lord allowed me to focus on His strength which was far greater than my weaknesses or sins. I became a new person, I could laugh again through the grace of God.

What a revelation that was! Every day, I thank the lord for His goodness.

I continue to work on being a better person, through God’s grace. I know it’s not a flowery bed of easy since life always challenges me in different ways, and it never ceases to put some kind of obstacle in my path. But, inspired by the words of St. Paul, I know : “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” ( Philippians 4 : 13 ).

I now know God has my back and will never let me down. No longer am I a slave to my own weakness for God’s power is “made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12 : 9).

—Fr. Hugh Duffy