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The Children's Bread
by rhonda Lofton The Children's Bread Easily, I identify with the nameless woman in the scriptures who is described by the severity of her dilemma. While not physically ill, she is plagued by her daughter's crisis. This woman's desperate and emotionally distraught state of mind makes her oblivious to her Canaanite descent. The reality that she was not Jewish, and at the time alienated from certain privileges reserved for the Jews, desperation dares this woman to approach the Lord about help for her daughter. Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. Saying, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered: It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the dogs. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Matthew 15:22-28 Strong negative connotations are associated with being desperate, but desperation is not all bad. Actuated by feelings of hopelessness and despair, desperation like nothing else creates urgency propelling you to overstep boundaries and reach for help from uncommon sources. Desperation causes you to dismiss the logic of asking for permission or waiting to be invited. This Gentile woman's desperate attempt to save her daughter's life freed her from the fear of being criticized or rejected. Desperation minimizes the fear of taking risks. It was desperation that emboldened and energized this woman to publicly summon the help of the Lord. Perhaps she reasoned that the loss of her daughter to demons was bigger than the ridicule or embarrassment she would experience by asking for help. Never under estimate the power or the advantages of having become desperate. Do not dismiss desperation as the possible catalyst in life that invokes change or transformation. Could desperation, in fact, be the instrument that God, sometimes, uses to help you overcome and transcend obstacles that loom large in your life? Are you facing desperate financial circumstances? Have unexpected setbacks, interrupted and postponed the fulfillment of your dreams and goals? Is your marriage and family crumbling due to pressures from within and without? Can your ministry stand a new breeze of fresh oil? The brutal recession; has it snatched your job and threatened your financial future? Perhaps like me, you are weathering the grim prognosis of severe health challenges. Smack dab in the middle of a life threatening health crisis, easily I relate to the desperation that propelled the Canaanite woman's cry for help. Strapped to a hospital bed swishing miserably in the seventy plus pounds of body fluid that my body had collected, helplessly I languished in tortuous discomfort. With labor intensive and hampered breathing, I struggled to stay afloat. Through openings where my skins had stretched and burst, profusely, fluid leaked. Urinating more than a gallon at a time, the swelling, seemingly unstoppable, increased. With the assistance of every conceivable medical device and the round the clock intense watch of a team of critical care doctors and and nurses every minute was critical. My prognosis was grim. Swiftly my eternal destination was closing in. In those desperate and despairing moments, surrounded by a loving family, loyal friends and a most expert team of physicians and specialists, a defining realization emerged. In spite of how genuinely they cared, they were limited in the help they could provide. Similar to the woman whose Gentile heritage excluded her from the blessings of divine healing, as a product of a sharecropper son born in the racially divisive south, would the Lord hear my cry for help? Desperation caused me to cry out: Lord help me. He did! Today, I weigh a healthy 195 pounds, 100 pounds less the swelling. Miraculously, all my extremities work. I am whole. Physically, spiritually, financially and emotionally, God is a healer. No longer is healing reserved for just a certain group, but the Children's Bread, divine healing, in exchange for your faith, is available to you. Author of Daddy, I Shrunk the devil; 7 Habits Rich, Powerful and Famous Bible Women and God Has a Sense of Humor. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |