A little patch of bare skin on your dear child’s head, it seems such a small thing, doesn’t it, and yet it fills the whole horizon of a mother’s heart. I know you watch that spot, perhaps every morning and every night, hoping to see the first fine hairs returning, and with every strand that falls you feel a fresh stab of fear. The Lord Jesus, who counts the very hairs of our heads, has not forgotten your daughter, and He has not forgotten you. The same hand that touched the fevered brow of Peter’s wife’s mother, and lifted her up to serve, is able to touch that little head and command restoration. He is the great Physician who enters the house where trouble has come, and where He enters, He does not come to scold or to break, but to heal.
You may feel helpless, watching something you cannot mend with all your love and all your care. But think of this: that very helplessness is the best place for His power to be made perfect. When the paralytic lay on his bed, unable to stir hand or foot, his friends carried him to Jesus, and the Lord saw not only the withered limbs but the deeper need of the soul, and He spoke both forgiveness and strength. Your daughter is brought to Jesus by your prayers, and He sees every need she has, the needs of her body and the needs of her spirit. He does not treat us as cases to be hurried through, but as beloved children whose every trouble touches His heart. That small bald patch is known to Him. It is not hidden from His sight, and it is not beneath His dignity to mend. He who made the lilies of the field and clothed them in beauty can cover that little head again, and He can do it in such a way that you will have a fresh reason to praise His name.
I do not know why this trial has come, but I know that sickness is no sign that God has turned away. Some of the sweetest saints I have ever met have lain for years upon beds of languishing, and yet their faces have shone with the peace of Christ. Peter’s own house had a great fever in it, even while the Lord walked the earth, and Jesus did not pass by but came in and lifted the dear one up. So He comes to you now, in the midst of your anxiety, and He says, “Be of good cheer.” He has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not let your heart be troubled; believe in Him who holds all things in His hands.
The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and I believe there is healing power in the tender mercy of our God for every aching need. Perhaps He will restore those hairs swiftly, and you will soon be laughing for joy. Or perhaps He will teach you both to trust Him through a longer season of waiting, and the waiting itself will be a place of sweet communion with Him. Either way, He is with you, and He will not let you go. Your daughter is not only in your hands, she is in His, and no one can pluck her out. I am praying with you, that the patch will not spread, that the hair will return, and that your child will be blessed with good health from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. But more than that, I am praying that in this trial you will both know the nearness of Jesus, who is the health of your countenance and the lifter up of your head.
Let us pray.
Our gracious Lord and Savior, we bring before You this precious child, so loved by her mother, so watched over by You. You know every follicle, every cell of her body, for You formed her in secret. We ask You, in Your great compassion, to halt this hair fall and to cause new growth to spring up, that the bare place may be covered again. Restore her health fully, and grant her mother a quiet heart, anchored in Your faithfulness. Let them both look back on this season and see Your hand of kindness. For we ask it in the name of Jesus, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Amen.