The Health of the Soul

Many years ago, when I was teaching at Delgado, my feet were hurting so badly that I thought I'd have to give up teaching.  I would bring four pairs of shoes to school and change shoes all day long, hoping to get some moments of relief from the pain.  From the time I got up in the morning to the evening, my feet were in pain, and I would get more and more tired as the day went on from fighting through pain.

One day, I was walking back to my office from the back of the campus; my feet hurt so badly that all I could think of was sitting down on the sidewalk and taking off my shoes, walking barefoot the rest of the way.  In desperation, I cried inwardly:  O God, if you tell me what to do, I promise I'll do it!

That afternoon, I stopped at my mom's house on the way home.  When I complained about my feet hurting, she said it sounded like arthritis; that's the way hers began.  I thought I was too young for arthritis, so I shrugged it off.  Then she said, "If you're craving something, it's poisoning you -- and corn is the worst!"  I thought for a moment.  About a year previously, I had stopped eating popcorn, which I craved and could not get enough of.  But after I ate it, I felt sick.  And since I had not eaten corn in a long time, I again shrugged it off.  The next morning, however, I reached into the pantry for the instant grits I had been eating morning and evening for several months; in fact, I craved them.  Suddenly, I thought: "That's corn!"

Intrigued, I started reading the health books on arthritis.  Sure enough, the nightshade vegetables topped all of the lists for causing inflammation in the body:  corn, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant.  For the next month, I eliminated all of those vegetables from my diet.  Suddenly, I could wear all of the shoes I had put into the bag for Goodwill!  As long as I stayed away from the nightshade vegetables (although corn is in everything),  I could wear shoes, and I did not ache all over with exhaustion. 

Today, I am absolutely rabid on the subject.  Whenever I encounter someone suffering from painful feet, I have to tell them my story.  Recently, I saw a woman in church who moved slowly, obviously in pain.  I suggested she stay away from the nightshade vegetables for one month and see if she noticed a difference.
I would do anything to keep one person from the pain I had experienced, even it I offended them in the process of "pushing my ideas" on them.

The same is true when it comes to the health of the soul.  When I see people living in fear, anxiety, depression, confusion, lack of peace, etc., I want to tell them about the healing waters that flow from Scripture.  Jesus told the apostles that His father "pruned" those who bear fruit so that they could bear more fruit --- You are already clean, He said, because of the word I have spoken in you (John 15:3). 

What does He "prune away" from us?  Pain!  The pain of the soul.  God does not want us living in pain.  Jesus healed bodies, but His healing of the souls of men was an even greater and more powerful work.  No one can be a healer until he himself has been healed.  Until I was healed of constant pain, I could not testify to the truth of what my mother told me.  Until Jesus touched me spiritually, I could not even know that I was walking around "sick of soul."  Now that He has spoken His word in me, and continues to heal, I need to speak the Source of Peace to the soul. 

Like Jeremiah, I know that people do not want to hear, but I must speak anyway.  He said, My yoke is light and my burden easy --- He takes our pain upon His own shoulders that we might be healed!