Healing Then and Now by Lisa Burkhardt Worley
Stretch out your hand to heal…(Acts 4:30)
I am in the thick of a Jewish identity class at school and while doing some required reading, I kept thinking about my own Jewish identity. I laid my book down (more than once) and googled my paternal ancestors. I discovered information I never knew about them—some good, some bad.
However, it is what I found out about my great-grandmother, Hattie Adler Wile, that surprised me. She suffered from utter despair because of chronic pain from a leg injury and was supernaturally healed by God. However, the pain returned and she became hopeless again. It was at that point she sought to know the Healer. In a letter written to a prominent rabbi friend she said, “However, I was seeking only the loaves and fishes, for I did not return to give thanks. In other words, I did not seek to know what healed me or how it was done…I prayed earnestly for light, and it was given to me…seven years have passed; during that time I have never been confined to my bed one day by illness. I have never had a return of the old troubles, have never taken a drop of medicine of any sort or description.” My Jewish great-grandmother realized her Healer was Yeshua, and because of that developed a relationship with Him. The generational line that came through her was probably the only Messianic line of all the children fathered by my Jewish great-great grandfather, Leopold Adler.
Knowing this, I find it extremely interesting that I am a believer in Yeshua as well, and that the Lord called me to start an emotional/physical healing ministry—Pearls of Promise. He has given me the same belief as my great-grandmother, Hattie, that God can supernaturally heal. There is something to DNA and the great cloud of witnesses cheering us on from Heaven. I hope someone smarter than me figures out the connection. What I do know is that God healed my great-grandmother then, and He still heals today. Psalm 103:2–4 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (ESV). James reiterated this truth in the New Testament: “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (ESV).
While the Lord doesn’t always choose to heal on this Earth, half the battle is believing He can, and when He does work this miracle in our lives, as Hattie Adler Wile realized, it’s important to give Him credit for the healing. Happy Rosh Hashanah!
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord (James 5:14, ESV).
[1] “A Noble Letter,” https://sentinel.christianscience.com/layout/set/print/issues/1902/7/4-45/a-noble-letter
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Join the Pearls of Promise Team as we travel to Israel January 9-18, 2024! We would love for you to journey to the Holy Land with us. For more information, check out our webpage for the trip at: https://www.eo.travelwithus.com/tours/hl24010924q60567#eotoursHoly Land