GOD time after time in history has used persons afflictions to His purpose and His Glory. One earlier case would be Moses. Scripture shows GOD called upon Moses to lead Israel. Moses was concerned because of his inability to speak or some issue related. Maybe he stuttered maybe a social phobia. GOD appointed Moses brother Aaron to speak for Moses instead of curing Moses. Again Paul was not healed either.
Do you think that the ministry Joni Tada founded for the disabled would have happened had she not be a quadriplegic? GOD's Grace and GOD's power is manifested in her afflictions. Would she have the understanding to know how to reach and minister to someone who was just told by a doctor that they could never walk again? The woman has helped likely millions including my wife deal with severe physical and emotional issues. Joni and her husband Ken wrote a book about a year ago I recommend it to any husband and wife facing illness of a spouse.
I believe in the laying on of hands upon the sick. Been there before and experienced a very life changing message. 29 years ago next month was when it happened. It was in ICU. The best doctors the hospital had told us my wife would not move her legs, arms, or likely hands again. No one knew why. Two ministers she knew came in and laid on hands for healing. What happened next is difficult to describe because it was not of this world. A peace overwhelmed me and a calm I have not know before of since. A presence of another with us in spirit. A message came to me "It's going to be OK".
Now for ones who had been praying for Divine Healing for her it was a welcomed message. Within a week she could feed herself with her hands picking up food one piece at a time. Great now about that walking issue????? Our lives in the next year and a half faced a testing unlike either of us had known. We were boy friend girl friend then. We married in the hospital chapel.
Weeks and months past. Usually the rule of spinal cord issues is six months is the window of recovery 90% of recovery of what you get back returns in that time. He hands came back about 80% as did her arms. Her legs except for reflexive spasms would not move.
So what was the message and why? GOD gave me a message I needed at that time because my life was changing at a rate not many would have likely handled alone and came out OK. A few months before this happened I lost my first wife age 23 to a massive heart attack. I went back to work after a couple of weeks and met a woman a few years older than me I was 28 at the time. We became friends and ate lunch together went to movies with her kids etc. I was with her when she went quad.
Did GOD remove Daniel from the Lions Den? Did GOD remove Daniel's three friends from the furnace? NO. He was with them. In that respect GOD was with me and we {my girl friend and I} made some critical choices after lots of prayer.
GOD has plans for all of us who surrender to His will. His Will His Plan may not be the Rose Colored idea we have. No indeed because we may a tempering of our spirit a molding by The Masters hands into what purpose He has use of us for.
GOD uses persons imperfections, their disabilities, as often as he uses healthy people. My disorder drastically affects my level of concentration at any given moment as far as holding a train of thought. It also affects my abilities to process auditory and optic events. Some noises I can not tolerate at all. Prayer comes easy to some. I can't pray without my mind going elsewhere. Church? Out of the question. I would disrupt it. I barely made it through my dads funeral a couple years ago because I was having seizures set off by the preachers voice over the microphone. Yet I can type this reply somehow. Hum.
We are promised to be given pain free, sin free, new bodies new live filled with joy and nor sorrows after our time in this life here on earth is over. Even though we are here GOD is with us. For Christians Christ sent The Holy Spirit to minister to us. Many die daily for the sake of The Gospel by not denying Christ and yet we are to assume when we are ill we will always be healed? Not in this world although sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait. We are citizens so to speak of a land promised to us. This is not that land. We must wait until The Father says our new home is ready.
It's not only promised to us, it is done. Jesus said "It is finished" and scripture clearly tells us that not only includes his taking on all our sins for our forgiveness but also taking on all our diseases for our healing.
His hand of blessing is outstretched, but we must by faith and grace take from him. He will never force anything upon us. You can point to people who evidently haven't been healed and I can point to you people who have. Temporal and changeable circumstance doesn't change the unchanging truth of God's word.