healing Archives - Susan Panzica

The Risk

Posted on March 12, 2021March 13, 2021 by Susan Panzica

She had an issue. She was known by her issue. The “woman with the issue of blood.”

How would you like to be known by your issue?

The woman with the issue of trust.
The man with the issue of pornography.
The woman with the issue of envy.
The man with the issue of anger.
The woman with the issue of addiction.
The man with the issue of pride.
The woman with the issue of shame.
The man with the issue of greed.

You get the idea. The KJV version refers to her as a “woman with an issue of blood” – meaning “flow,” as in blood issuing forth – but it’s a good word for her situation – she had an issue! Thank God we are not known by our issues!

Sadly, this woman was – to her community, her family. She has had an issue for 12 years and has spent all her money on doctors – to no avail.

Word came to her that Jesus of Nazareth had landed on the shore of her town. Crowds made their way to greet the itinerant vagabond healer. Hope stirred in her heart.

Dare she take the risk? Her condition made her ceremonially unclean. She was relegated to solitude, to quarantine. Braving the crowds was a risk. Touching His garment was unthinkable. But maybe….?

The crowds pressed on, and then stopped.

Jairus, the synagogue leader, asked Jesus to come to his house and heal his beloved daughter. Would He?

Kind Jesus. Of course He said “yes.” Would she miss her chance?

Jairus’ daughter? Wait! She remembered when the baby girl was born. Could it be 12 years already? The same year her bleeding began. She remembered the joy in the synagogue and in Jairus’ family. The thrill of a promise fulfilled almost dampened her personal pain. Almost.

She couldn’t attend the festivities then, or in the 12 years since. Now Jairus was drawing the crowd’s attention again. And Jesus’ too. Jairus, with the power to have her stoned to death. Dare she take the risk of even being there in public, much less touching The Healer’s hem?

She lowered herself within the crowd, hoping to remain unseen, and stretched her trembling hand to His garment.

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NOT The End….

I’ll be sharing a sermon about this woman, our own issues, and God’s plan in all of it on Sat. March 13 @ 5:30pm, and I invite you to join me at High Mountain Church via Facebook Live: facebook.com/HighMountainChurch

They’re NOT cute!

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Susan Panzica

In the fall, you walk our front pathway at your peril. We have the most aggressive acorns you’ve ever seen, or felt. Honestly. The dents they render to a car’s hood or roof are nothing compared to the bumps they produce on your noggin.

Then in the spring, I tackle the unhappy chore of removing of hundreds of tiny oak trees sprouting in my garden. So this week, I decided to pre-empt those suckers and rid the garden of them before taking root. Not as easy as I thought. Like giant pistachios, they had already split and many a root sprouted, burrowed firmly in the soil.

Most were on the surface, fairly easy to dig up, but here and there I uncovered small clusters under the branches of low bushes, concealed among the stalks.

Then I found it – the Mother Lode, the Cave of Wonders, the Pirate’s Booty. No way was this pile the result of falling acorns. This secret stash flowed from a drain, as if stockpiled in some clandestine plot. This was the resident chipmunks’ winter preparations washed out from recent heavy rains.

The outward appearances of these adorable little furballs belie their true identity – hideously destructive varmints. They burrow holes in the soil, loosen the supporting rocks, and hoard potentially damaging future oak trees.

I don’t usually see any chipmunks as I’m working. No, they save their activities for when no one is around to witness their detrimental deeds. But the evidence of their handiwork is apparent.

Of course this got me thinking….

These acorns are like the barbed comments that people fling our way. And they hurt, not a bruise on the head, but on the heart. Zingers that find our soft spot, and embed themselves. If we let them take root, they will grow and fester and bear bitter resentful fruit. The longer the root remains, the stronger it gets and the harder it is to remove. It is easy to narrow our eyes at the perpetrator, to retaliate, to judge. But Scripture tells us:

… make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. Deut. 29:18
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Heb. 12:15

After wasting useless minutes fuming at these critters, I realized – they are just doing what chipmunks do.

All my anger isn’t going to make them more sensitive.

I can’t change them, but I can change my root structure:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Col. 2:6-7

Instead of hating the chipmunks, I have a choice.

And with those whose comments dent my soul, I have a choice.

I can let them fester, develop bitter roots, and ultimately poison me. Or I can respond as Jesus did. “Father, forgive them. Those chipmunks just don’t know what they’re doing.” Well, a loose paraphrase, but you get the idea.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established IN LOVE, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph. 3:16-19

When God Turns Up The Heat

Posted on January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 by Susan Panzica

It’s a sad promise that we WILL go through the overwhelming waters and the burning fire. The verse above doesn’t say “if,” it says “when.” Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you WILL have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Fortunately, when we pass through the waters and the fire, the Lord promises to be with us and we will not be swept away or burned or in any way destroyed by the trials we experience.

Years ago at a Women of Faith conference, I heard Thelma Wells share a story. Her arm was severely burned, and at the hospital, she discovered that all her costume jewelry melted and was ruined, but her good jewelry was not. Her diamonds and gold were completely intact. Thelma stated it was because the “good jewelry was pure.”

Never one to leave a perfectly good illustration alone, I took it a step further and asked: WHY and HOW was the good jewelry pure?

Diamonds
Chemically, scientifically, a diamond is carbon – charcoal – a soft substance so easily destroyed in fire it is used for fuel. It’s black, dirty, and full of impurities. How does it become one of the clearest, and hardest substances on earth? Years and years and years of intense pressure. The pressure forces the impurities out of the carbon and makes the diamond into one of the most formidable and durable substances on earth.

Gold
When gold is mined from the earth, it looks nothing like the shiny jewelry we love. The process of refining gold requires heat, lots of it. The gold is melted into liquid, and the refiner skims away the impurities – the dross – that rises to the surface.

Malachi tells us, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” Malachi 3:3

An old story goes ~ There were some passers-by watching the refiner sitting by his pot of gold hanging over the fire. They wondered how much heat the gold could endure without being destroyed, and so they asked the refiner. He responded,

“See how I sit by the fire?”

“Yes, of course, we see you.”

“Well, see how I bend over the pot, looking into it?”

“Yes, but how do you know how much heat that will allow the refining without destroying the gold?”

“I’ll know – when I see my own reflection.”

Our Refiner is always with us through whatever fiery trials we endure. We’re never alone. The flames did not set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ablaze. The Lord was with them in the fiery furnace. And He is close by watching carefully all that’s going on. Nothing surprises Him or occurs without His permission.

My Bible note on Isaiah 43:2 says, “Going through rivers of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. If you go in your own strength, you are more likely to drown. If you invite the Lord to go with you, He will protect you.”

But it’s more than that.

Yes, He is with us. And yes, He protects us as we go in His strength. But these fiery trials also can serve a purpose. He is producing His reflection in us as we patiently endure. Endurance produces maturity and Christ-likeness.

J.B. Phillips translates James 1:2-5 this way:

“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence…”

It may seem impossible to welcome trials as friends. And to be honest, it probably is. But we can welcome the God who allowed them and be open to the mighty transforming work He will do in us and through us because of these difficulties.

Are you going through a fiery trial? How can I best pray for you, beloved?

From Rubbish to Restored

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Susan Panzica

SLOW DOWN!!! My husband Tony shrieked as I drove down the street. I thought there was mortal danger ahead and nearly caused some myself, but no – he wanted to scan the yard sale we were passing.

And that’s why I don’t drive when he’s in the car.

But this week, he was passing a house in lovely Franklin Lakes when he spotted an amp sitting at the curb. Being the master guitar player (and garbage picker – you didn’t hear that from me) that he is, he couldn’t resist. He stopped, and the owner told him that the amp was broken and Tony was free to take it. And being the master Mr. Fixit that he is, he did just that. He took it home and repaired it to work perfectly!

This is life with Tony.

Sometimes we feel like that amp – broken, useless, good for nothing but the garbage heap. At one time, we were new, clean and fresh, but life was hard. We might have been treated badly. Perhaps we were ignored or overlooked. Maybe we made some bad choices that hurt others or ourselves. And now we feel wounded or inadequate.

We feel like the amp out on the curb might feel – broken, defeated, alienated, separated from what could have been.

What we need is life with Jesus, the original Mr. Fixit. He takes our broken pieces and makes them like new.

Throughout Scripture, God restores His people, their health, their wealth, their hopes. He restored nations and order. He restored “the crushed spirit of the humble and revived courage of the repentant” (Is 57:15). He brought “sparkle to eyes” (Ps 13:3)

Jesus comforted the alienated and the outcast. He healed the infirmed. He made people useful and vibrant again. And He still does this today. If we let Him.

Will you let Him in today? Will you enter into life with Jesus? How can I pray for you, beloved?

“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.” 1 Peter 5:10

Frying Pan Theology

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Susan Panzica

Not long after our church’s Easter breakfast finished, sounds of the worship music filtered down from the sanctuary as everyone settled into their seats. Well, not everyone. Liz and I were still in the kitchen with the last of the cleanup detail. There was that one last pan, the one covered with baked on egg.

I scrubbed, “sudsed,” scoured, and rinsed. Each time I thought I got it all, but the rinse revealed the truth – still more work to do.

Liz looked over at my struggle and said, “Just let it soak. We’ll get it later.” Which is just what we did.

How much did that pan remind me of my life?

When the pan was full of fluffy eggs, I couldn’t see the crusty residue practically laminated to the pan’s bottom and edges. When I’m busy and so full of activity, I don’t notice other deep down issues that start getting embedded and ingrained in me. Things that begin to corrode and cause destruction. Things like selfishness, jealousy, pride, anger, bitterness.

But in His graciousness, God uses struggles and hardships as tools to reveal to me areas that He wants to work on. Then too often, in my own strength, I start scrubbing and scraping trying to remove and improve like I did with the eggs. After much elbow grease, I thought I had gotten it all. But the rinse revealed that while I made some progress, there was still more work to be done. And I can’t do it by myself.

With the eggs, I needed the dish detergent to do chemically what physically I could not. And I needed to fill and immerse the pan in water and just let it soak. Let the water do the work of softening the hardness.

In life, I find myself trying to clean up my act in my own strength which isn’t very effective. I need to be immersed in the Lord and His Word to soften my hardened heart and to remove the impurities that are stuck inside. I must partner with Him in the transformational work He wants to do. Paul says to “…be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. … Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Rom 12:1-2

MY job is to present myself “a living and holy sacrifice … and not copy the behavior and customs of this world,” and then GOD will “transform (me) into a new person by changing the way (I) think.”

It won’t happen in an instant any more than a rinse of the water released the caked on egg. It’s a process that took time in the sink. And it’ll be a process as I soak in His presence and His promise:

Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himselfas a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Eph. 5:25-27

What a beautiful promise that is! A scrub-free eternity! What do you think about that?

If It’s Possible….

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Susan Panzica

Illustrated Wall Art by Mandipidy
http://www.etsy.com/listing/105657216/live-peaceably-with-all-romans-1218

If I’m honest, I have to admit it. It’s not easy to always live at peace with everyone. People can be foolish, angry, bossy, hostile, offensive, stuck-up, needy. Some people push our buttons. Sometimes it’s deliberate. Other times it’s unintentional.

The to-do list of behavioral mandates the Apostle Paul gives us in Romans 12 seems daunting:

v. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

v. 14 Bless those who persecute you

v. 19 Do not take revenge

v. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good

But tucked within these verses is a beautiful sentence that qualifies the rest. Click here for my post about Romans 12:18 and the possibilities for peace-filled relationships it brings.
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Lord Undo Me

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Susan Panzica

Driving home tonight listening to K-LOVE Radio (96.7 in NYC area), I heard the dj (JD Chandler) read the following. You can hear him read it on his webpage: http://www.klove.com/blog/jd/ Scroll down to Oct. 31. It undid me.

“Lord Undo Me”

I don’t really worship these day
I don’t really stand up to praise you with songs
Or prayers or actions
or with anything
I am full of all the right moves
I am full of all the right words
I am full of all the right religion
But it is all just illusion
I am really
Lonely
Lost
Calloused
Jaded
Cynical
Too religious
Too realistic
and well really just to lazy
to worship you anymore
I have lost my first love
I have lost the joy of your presence
But most of all I have lost the fear of your glory

Father I need to see you again
Like Isaiah I want to stand in awe of your glory
To fall down at your feet
To come face to face with your
Perfection,
Radiance,
Goodness,
Holiness,
Awesomeness
I want to stand before you and see you for who you are
and me for who I am
I want to be undone

I want to know me for who I really am
I want to see the depths of my heart
And know that you are the only way
You are the only truth
You are the only life
I want to see me and understand
What it really must have taken for you to
Love me
Care for me
See me
Speak to me
Want me
Communicate with me
Die for me
Die for me
Die for me

Lord, I want to stand in that place where all I can see is your glory
And my sin
Because in that place I can’t help but worship you.
Lord let me come undone
Undo my heart
Lord, undo my heart
break down these walls that I love so much
No, wait don’t,
I’m scared I don’t know if I can handle this
don’t
But I can’t live this way anymore
I can’t stand here in this half-life
this going through the motions life
this not really alive life
Father, I need you so come in and do what you must
Cut out the tumor on my heart
Break down the walls that I love
Lord let me come undone
Undo my heart
let me worship you again

*Blake Williams

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Forget It! … or Remember it??

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Susan Panzica

Happy New Year!

On Jan. 1st, I updated my facebook status to read:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Is. 43:18-19

Seemed like the perfect verse to usher in the new year along with Paul’s words from Phil 3:13-14 “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Seems like starting a new year gives us opportunity to do a lot of forgetting.

Yet I also recall verses that tell me to do just the opposite – remember!

Repeatedly in Scripture the Lord urges His people to remember – His covenants with them, what He has done for them (and us), what they (and we) had been, how they (and we) angered God, how He forgave.

In fact, Isaiah himself who wrote “forget the former things” also wrote “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9

So what’s a girl to do?

Forget or remember??

Probably a little of both.

Alas, I find myself remembering things that have little value, hurtful things, foolish things, things that should be long forgotten. These are the things that Isaiah says to forget – “do not dwell in the past.” In Paul’s description of the race of life, these things are weights that drag us down and keep us from pressing on toward the goal.

What we are to dwell on, to remember, is the God that is like no other. The One who redeemed us when we were unworthy, the One who sustained us when we couldn’t go on, the One who grants us peace beyond understanding, the One who helps us to love the unlovable and who loves us unconditionally, the One who made us and REmade us.

The lyrics from one of my favorite bands Tenth Ave. North says:
  You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
     You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
     You are more than the problems you create,
     You’ve been remade.

     ‘Cause this is not about what you’ve done,
     But what’s been done for you.
     This is not about where you’ve been,
     But where your brokenness brings you to

     This is not about what you feel,
     But what He felt to forgive you,
     And what He felt to make you loved.

     You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
     You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
     You are more than the problems you create,
     You’ve been remade.

So in 2011, what will you remember? And what will you forget?

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Phil. 4:8-9

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Posted on December 22, 2010 by Susan Panzica

Rhonda Schrock of “The Natives Are Getting Restless” and a contributor to “An Army of Ermas” normally writes downright hysterical columns about the life and times of her restless tribe. Today she shares a poignant reminder of His faithfulness for those of us who have suffered loss.

Over the holidays, I found my thoughts frequently turning throughout the day to friends who were facing a difficult Christmas. So many people lost this year…

First, in our hometown here in Northern Indiana, a local son was killed while on active duty in Afghanistan. His mother works at the middle school right up the road from our house, and he grew up in a church here in the middle of town. I will never forget seeing the caravan, including the hearse, come down Main Street on a bright Sunday in June, only days before Independence Day. His young wife and parents were devastated.

In October, our beloved school nurse, Diane Brown, passed away suddenly from the chemotherapy she was on for her breast cancer. She was such a bright-spirited, active, positive person. She left a legacy of hospitality and love for people from all walks of life.

Four days later, our close neighbor, Lisa Lengacher, a 39-year-old mother of 2, passed away in her sleep. She and I used to coffee together in days gone by, and her girls and our boys played in our back yards. There is still no explanation for her death.

How odd that both Diane and Lisa lived within one-third of a mile from our house.

Earlier in the fall, my parents lost one of their best friends, Joe Miller, in Hutchinson, Kansas. Joe was my very first boss and probably one of the best. He was a brilliant, largely self-taught businessman who left behind his wife and three sons and their families.

Other friends from days of yore lost their mother unexpectedly. This family of 9 children are now orphans, way too early, actually. The oldest son is only a bit older than Grant and I.

And last year, friends of ours lost their two oldest teenagers in a horrific crash, so this year they faced the second Christmas with two empty places.

So much loss.

In the last – oh, year or two? – I have found that my heart is beating more and more to the rhythm of eternity. Perhaps it’s aging. Maybe it’s growing and maturing. I’m not sure, but in the midst of such sorrow and devastation and pain and terrible suffering, I cannot help but think more and more of Heaven. And I remember that this is only temporary.

If this is all we were left with, this life with its deepest affliction, we would be of all men most miserable. But Heaven awaits. And this is how we persevere. This is not the end of the story. It’s really only the preface, the introduction. There is so much real living that’s waiting for us. We’re in training. Oh, it’s hard. How it hurts! But it will not last.

When I think of my life from this angle, things make a bit more sense. I want to hang in there, to persevere. I remember that we are made for something more. But while I’m here, there’s a work to be done. There is a calling to fulfill. Oh, let me not be found shrinking back from fear or unbelief or apathy! So many around need joy, need hope, need encouragement. Lord, strengthen my hands and establish my feet on a firm path that I may be found faithful when it’s my turn to fly away.

So thankful that He understands groanings that cannot be uttered,

Rhonda

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Gift of Healing

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Susan Panzica

Thanks again to my dear friend Cheri Bunch for sharing this story of love, loss, and new life.

There really wasn’t much of a relationship between us anymore. We had to see each other once in awhile but it wasn’t ever because we wanted to. We are family and we share mutual love for other members in the family.

Holidays were extremely difficult for us. Especially Christmas. This loved one, so to speak, did not ever like what I purchased for her. She was very vocal about her disapproval and if she did like it she refused to say so. It was a member of the family who was highly esteemed by others and it would be dreadful if I didn’t purchase anything for her.

Truth is, I didn’t purchase anything for her for a few Christmases. I got weary of trying to please and I decided that there were others out in the world that were in need and want of gifts. I would carefully spend my time and energy, that I would have spent shopping for her, on those who would appreciate my efforts. After all, Paul instructed us not to give under compulsion. (2 Corinthians 9:7 NASV)

One Christmas I felt like the Lord wanted me to get a gift for her. I bucked at the whole idea for awhile explaining to Him all the reasons that it really wasn’t necessary. He disagreed with me, I could feel His disapproval. I began to plead with Him to show me what I could possibly do to bless this person.

He was faithful and I acquired a splendid idea.

I asked each one of my children to write special memories they had of this person. All five of my children wrote some really special memories down about times they had spent in her home, vacations when she had joined us, and stories she had shared with them over the years. Tears ran down my face as I read them. I was so moved by how much this person had meant to my family. They loved her so much. I was blessed by all the ways they shared about how she had blessed their lives.

Their stories inspired me to write my own testimony of special times I had shared with her in the past. I asked my husband to share his thoughts as well. I compiled each child’s story and ours into individual red or green folders. I alternated them when I stacked them up and tied them together with a beautiful Christmas bow. They were beautiful inside and out.

I received a beautiful thank you note the week after Christmas. She loved the gift, calling it thoughtful. She mentioned that she was blessed that I had put so much effort into my giving. It was the most inexpensive gift I had ever given her, but it pleased her the most.

That Christmas a healing began to take place in our relationship. We are a much happier family these days as a result. I began to pray diligently for this dear loved one. Over time our hearts have softened toward one another. The Lord certainly knew what He was talking about! He had a gift in mind that would heal both of our hearts.

“Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share …” 1 Timothy 6:18

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