You tremble for your son’s body, and your motherly love makes the knife seem a terror. But turn that fear into prayer, and let it fling you toward the Physician of both soul and body. Do you not see how this very trial is a call to flee for refuge into His bosom? Just as a mother frightens her little child with imagined dangers so that the child will run and cling to her neck, so God sometimes permits sickness to visit our homes, not to destroy, but to draw us nearer to Himself. He does not wish to defer giving, but by delay He is teaching us to persevere. So do not faint if the healing does not come at once. Continue in supplication; even if you do not receive immediately, stay close, that you may receive.
But while you pray, do not despise the means God has already placed in this world. The ruler does not bear the sword in vain; he is God’s minister for good. In the same way, the surgeon’s hand, when rightly employed, is also a minister of divine mercy. What if He chooses to restore your child through the very instrument you fear? Will you refuse the gift because of the wrapper? God heals, whether by a word or by a blade; both are His. Your fear is natural, but let it be swallowed up by trust in the Lord who said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Learn from Him who is meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.
Do not be like those who, when adjured in the name of the Lord to show pity, harden their hearts and pass by, but when the world flatters they melt at once. Your son’s need adjures you by the eyes of Christ to pray without ceasing and to accept His answer with thanksgiving, whatever form it takes. The boy belongs to God more than to you. Can you not trust Him who spared not His own Son, but suffered Him to be called the Son of David, so that you might become a daughter of God? I will pray with you for your child’s healing, but above all ask that both his soul and yours may be strengthened, and that whether by quiet recovery or through the surgeon’s care, the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified. Fear not; the One who rebuked the waves is able to calm both the fever and your heart.