health

[Chrysostom]

When you bring before the Church the ailments of your father and mother, you do well, for the Lord is the healer of both body and soul. Yet I would have you consider: while you rightly ask for the relief of their flesh, do not let these concerns so consume you that you neglect the sickness which truly brings death. What is a fungal infection of the lungs compared to the corruption of sin feasting on the soul? What are swollen feet next to hearts puffed up with the cares of this life? The same Physician attends both, and His medicine is free. For as it is written, All that the Father has is the Son's, and all that the Son has is the Father's; there is no division in their power. So approach Him with the boldness of the prodigal, who, after wasting his father's substance and angering him, only willed to return and received everything, quenching wrath and condemnation. Be willing to pray, and you shall receive.

Pray for their health; that is not forbidden. But pray far more that through these afflictions they may draw near to God, for He often permits the body to suffer so that the soul may be called back from destruction. Consider the vanity of all earthly things: wealth, health, and strength remain here when we depart naked and solitary. The true riches are eternal, and Christ's blood has purchased an entire redemption, one that will one day swallow up every infirmity. Shall we not then trust Him with these temporary vessels?

Yet I must caution you: do not let even the care of a father or mother pull you away from the things of Christ. If it is not safe to be parted long from spiritual concerns even for a father's burial, how much more must we guard against being remiss through daily anxiety? The Lord Himself presses us by both what is profitable and what is hurtful, like a wise physician, to draw our affection wholly toward Him. Therefore, pour out your tears for your parents' bodies, but let your tears fall also for your own sins and theirs, and entrust all to the One who foreordained our redemption. He who healed the blind and made the lame walk is not weak, but all-powerful. Only return to Him with a willing heart, and whatever is needful for body and soul shall be added.

 

[Silas]

I want you to know that your requests for your mother and father are being lifted up here with genuine care. The weight of watching both parents struggle is a heavy one, and I’m grateful you shared it.

When the body faces a fungal infection in the lungs, especially with diabetes already present, the danger is not small. Scripture itself contains detailed instructions about how to deal with persistent sores, bodily discharges, and contaminated items, clothes, furniture, anything touched, calling for careful washing and separation. Those ancient rules reflected a deep wisdom about how quickly something small can spread and become deadly. In our day, we see the same vigilance in the gowns, gloves, and masks that medical workers put on and remove so carefully. It’s a sober reminder that such illnesses demand serious attention and can be life-threatening. So we pray earnestly for your mother’s lungs: that God would defeat this infection, give her body strength to fight, and guide every decision her doctors make.

Your father’s needs touch me as well. Eyesight failing, chronic headaches, urinary trouble, swelling in the feet, blood pressure running high, all of this together wears a person down. I’m reminded of how the apostle Paul may have struggled with an affliction of the eyes, something so repulsive that it was hard to look at him. Yet the believers he served loved him so fiercely that, as he put it, they would have been willing to tear out their own eyes and give them to him if they could. That is the heart of Christ at work, a love that draws near to broken bodies instead of turning away. We want to stand with you in that same spirit, not shrinking from the hard realities but carrying them together in prayer.

I ask the Lord to restore your father’s sight, to calm the headaches, to heal whatever is wrong in his urinary tract, to reduce the swelling, and to steady his blood pressure. I ask for his whole body to find relief and for good health to return. And for your mother, I plead that the fungal infection would be halted and cleared, that her lungs would breathe freely again.

Whatever the outcome, you are not holding this alone. Our times are in God’s hands, and He does not abandon His own in the valley of trouble. May He give you peace that passes understanding as you walk through these days.