healingdiscoveries

Link Between Spiritual Problems and Physical Illness

IMG_2310No one would dispute that maladies of the spirit affect the body. This entry is to purport how emphatically and even figuratively a disease or malfunction of the spirit is reflected in the body. Three specific examples which were personally known to me are my illustrations.

The first is a personal story. I had a diagnosis in my early 30ʼs of Dupuytrenʼs contracture. Here is the Mayo Clinic explanation of the disease:  “In later stages of Dupuytren’s contracture, cords of tissue form under the skin on your palm and may extend up to your fingers. As these cords tighten, your fingers may be pulled toward your palm, sometimes severely.”  In short, one can end up with a non functional hand.”

The cause of this is not understood and the treatments are not very successful. Usually the involved hand becomes non-functional and it can spread to the other hand.

As a physical therapist, I had actually treated a patient with this disease, (unsuccessfully I might add). I had seen him end up with a non functional hand in spite of every intervention. When I got my own diagnosis of Dupuytren’s contracture, I was desperate. No one was home when I came from the doctorʼs office, so I hopped on the treadmill and began screaming at God. It was a one way conversation until a point when I yelled, “Why did you do this to me?”

There was no physical voice that answered, yet the answer was so clear that there might as well have been. I heard more than I will relate here, but basically I understood that I did this to myself with my greed. With my grasping of things, a sin of the spirit, I caused the mirror image in my body of what was happening in my spirit. My grasping attitude led to a grasping disease.

The story has a happy ending. I repented and made every effort to change this attitude through cooperation with God. While I still have the nodule and the tendon tightness that first led to the diagnosis, it never progressed further. It has not interfered with my function. The slight contracture and knot serves as a reminder of what happened and a warning not to return to the sin of greed.

The second story was a friend of mine. She identified the spirit and body connection herself. Previously to becoming a Christian, she had 3 abortions. Later, when happily married and trying to conceive, she had 3 miscarriages before she finally carried a baby to term. Her conclusion was that because she did not value life, she could not sustain life. Yet, God was merciful and intervened to allow her to have a child. Again repentance and change of heart, along with her actions, were evident. She is strenuously pro-life and shares her experience freely to try to help others.

The third story was of a wonderful man who discovered he had a brain lesion that was causing weakness. He went through years of misery going from hospital to hospital through batteries of tests. His physical condition deteriorated, and the cause could not be found. Different treatments were tried, but nothing helped. Finally, he revealed that previous to his disease, he had been involved in a long term affair. This situation is still not resolved.  His disease is ongoing.  However, it seems like an obvious correlation. Hidden sin–hidden disease.

All of this to say one thing: If you have a sin in your past or an ongoing sin, repent and make it right. Even if the sin is not ongoing, the past can still come back to bite you. Get before God and tell him that you have sinned against him and that you are truly sorry. Ask for his help to never go in that wrong direction again.

Look at the Bible if you are not clear on what constitutes actual sin (versus what our culture says is right and wrong). Sex outside of marriage, lust, selfishness, greed, envy, are just a few. They are like a cancer.

Speaking of cancer, as you may know from previous blogs, I have active cancer. This whole subject made me wonder– could I have caused my cancer with my sin? We are so blind to our own sin. I have some thoughts on the subject but they are not solidified yet. However, I wonder if the basis could be 2 things–self righteousness and complaining.

I do not believe that every disease or disfunction is caused by personal sin. After all, we live in enemy occupied territory, and there is corporate sin which affects us all. However, I think it would be judicious for every disease-afflicted person to do soul searching and prayer, looking into the dark places of the soul and spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit.