60 Seconds – Healing

The following letter was found in the belongings of my mother, Dorothy Arnold, who went to be with the Lord on Friday, February 26, 2010, after serving God for over 75 years.

“On June 16, 1948, my son was accidentally shot in the eye by a b-b-gun. On the 19,th his father took him to the eye specialist in Ocala, Florida, a Dr. Russel. This specialist sadly told him the eye was gone, the eye ball was a soft mush, the nerves of the eye were destroyed, and the eye was running and becoming infectious. Dr. Russel added that the eye was shrinking in the socket and would eventually dry up. His father sent for prayer to a camp meeting I was attending. Intercessory prayer was made, with fastings and tears. On the 21st of June, the specialist, Dr. Russell, examined the eye, and in astonishment, told my husband that a marvelous change had taken place in the eye, for he had diagnosed a new strength and returning of vision. He stated that our son would see, but might need glasses when school opened and that the eye would always be large. Now, nine months later, April 3, 19, the eye is perfectly normal, he has perfect vision, and the pupil is the same size as the one in the other eye. We give all the glory to our Lord Jesus!”

In Isaiah 53:5, we read, “With His stripes we are healed.” In his book, Hebrew Honey, Al Novak states, “Heal derives from the Hebrew root rapha, which is onomatopoeic. Its sounds suggest a sewing machine. It signifies a sewing together, curing a wounded person, often done by sewing up the wound, wholesome and health.”

Matthew 9:35 states, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” Among the illnesses Christ healed were an infection resulting from a high fever, various cases of leprosy, a man so seriously afflicted with paralysis that he had to be carried by friends, numerous cases of blindness, deafness, blood disease, a woman who had been bowed down for eighteen years by a spirit of infirmity, a man with a withered hand, a lame man, and one with a severed ear.

“How powerful the Physician was. He healed all that were brought to Him, though ever so many. Nor was it some one particular disease, that Christ set up for the cure of, but He healed those that were sick of various diseases, for His word was a panpharmacon–a salve for every sore!” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary).