The trial is heavy, and your soul is bowed down under the weight of this sudden affliction, for the creature you love is in low estate. Yet the Lord has not left you comfortless in this hour. From the eternal deep that lies under, from that measureless fountain, you shall draw strength which all eternity will not exhaust. You are weakness itself, but united to the Divine strength, you shall be infinitely strong. Wait upon the Lord, cast your nothingness upon His omnipotence, and He shall renew your strength, day by day, even as you are called to these tender but difficult ministrations.
The very least things that have to do with Christ have healing virtue in them. The leaves of that tree are for the healing of the nations, and from Him, the great conduit-head, abundant streams of healing flow. It may please Him to touch that poor suffering frame and drive the malady away. He who healed all that had need of healing while He sojourned here has lost none of His power. The costly balm of His atonement was not for man alone, for His mercies are over all His works, and the most silent creature is not beneath His notice. Yet mark this: the healing power was conspicuously present when Christ was teaching. Link, then, your prayer with the word of truth, let your faith rest on the promise that hears the young ravens when they cry.
You dread the suffering, the trembling frame, the terror at the mask and the sharp sting of the needle. But when all your own strength fails, your strength shall be to sit still while God arises and becomes your arm every morning, your salvation in the time of trouble. If He requires this service of you, He will give you hands steadied by His own grace. You shall not be obliged to say, "I am sick," because the task is beyond nature; the Lord shall preserve you from that, and make the draught, though it seem bitter to the creature, a healing draught administered by love. The soldier who retires from the battle-field knows where the liniments are kept; so you, wounded in heart, know the great Physician. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. In your own sorrow, He will be very near.
Seek also the healing that is deeper than the body. You cry for life, aye, and for pardon and peace. He can breathe into your soul at this very moment a peace that passes understanding, which springs from the perfect remission of your sins. When Jesus is received by faith, He lifts all our sorrow from us in a moment, even the groanings over a creation that travails in pain. Believe, once more, that all the eternal penal consequences are gone from the forgiven man. For him, though these temporal griefs press sore, there is no condemnation. I will put My fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from Me.
And what if the hour of her departure comes? You have prayed that He take her gently. Child, the Lord can make the weak ones strong in a moment, and raise them at once from bed to battle, or, as you plead, give release as in a whisper. The very leaves are for healing, and that means the least dreaded, the softest path, may be the one appointed.
But I press this upon you: As the poor woman arose from her fever to minister, so strength to minister comes with healing. You feel utterly without strength; good. The Christian has no other strength than that which comes from God. He is the glory of our strength, let us keep to that. With God-reliance you work impossibilities. You will take up this albuterol mask as though it were the very towel with which to wash the feet of the Lord's poor little ones. I do not ask you to pray for strength merely, but to cry for life from the dead! While you are yet without strength, believe that Christ died for the ungodly, and that His tender care extends even to this frail creature.
Therefore, cast yourself upon Him. Let the trial drive you deeper into the fountain. And whether she be raised up to purr at your side once more, or whether the Lord gather her little spirit into a creation no longer subject to vanity, you shall find Him faithful. God bless you and keep you ever so near to that pierced side whence flowed blood and water for your own healing.