There should be fanfare...

This is post #100. Shouldn't there be some little fanfare associated with this?

And I don't even have much to say. Been thinking about theodicy some this week, owing to a conversation in a group earlier this week. We were talking about healing, and that we should always expect miraculous healing because to do otherwise might mean that we don't have enough faith for God to give us the miracle we want.
With apologies to the other members of my group, and with all due respect, doesn't that make us into the gods? If God can't operate because I'm not good enough, then all bets are off, because we will never consistently be good enough. I've had an angelic moment or two, here and there (now rendered meaningless by the sin of pride I've just committed), but if God's goodness depends on mine then we're all headed you-know-where in a handbasket.
I think God's big enough to help us through our suffering, and accompany us in it, and surround us with a body of friends and fellow believers in whom we find strength. There's where we truly say, "not our will but yours," because our will would be complete restoration of health and wholeness, and there is only one place that it is promised: at the resurrection (ours, not just his) when Christ's saving work is complete in us.
And no, it's not fatalism that we practice as we go through life and all the stuff it brings us. It's faith: because the gift of the Incarnation is that God is in fact with us, no matter what stuff happens (I'm rather fond of the bumper sticker with a 4-letter variant spelling of "stuff").
God is. We are. And we are best when we are with God, and with one another. And that's when we can pray for healing with expectation, and know that somewhere between here with us and there with God, our prayers will always be answered with a resounding "yes!" It just might not be before our very eyes...
So do I pray for healing? Yes. Do I believe in it? Yes. Have I seen it? In ways subtle and small and everyday, absolutely. In ways flashy and clearly extraordinary, maybe. But in all these things, easy and difficult, good and not-so-good, God is working for the good of those who love him and are called by him...for his purposes and by his name. Huh. How'd that get in there?