Healing Naaman and Me – Part 1
“Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” (New International Version, 2 Kings 5:1)
You know Naaman.
He’s your neighbor. Or your co-worker.
He could be your spouse. Your parent. Or even your child.
Or Naaman could be you.
He’s the person whose life looks great on the outside. People envy him. He’s successful, well-connected. He rubs elbows with high-profile individuals. He’s powerful, well-known in his community.
But he has a problem. A problem he keeps covered up. A potentially deadly problem.
Naaman has leprosy.
That’s probably not your neighbor’s issue. Hers could be alcohol. Your co-worker may be addicted to pain meds. Your spouse could have anger issues. Your parent may be a hoarder or your child an anorexic.
And then there’s you.
Naaman had a resume any man would want. He was powerful, successful, admired, respected. He was being used by God . . . although I don’t think he realized it at the time. He was at the top of his game. And everybody knew it. And probably every man around wanted a resume like that.
Until the last four words: “. . .but he had leprosy.”
What’s the ‘but’ at the end of your resume. We all have one.
No matter how successful we are, how far we’ve come, what we’ve overcome to get there—we all have a ‘but’.
Maybe yours isn’t as radical as a physical addiction. Maybe you just like to gossip. Maybe when the going gets tough, you go shopping.
Or maybe you just have to stay busy all the time. Can’t stand to sit still. Can’t bear to be quiet with just your thoughts.
Maybe you can’t stand to be alone. You have to be in a relationship, even if that relationship isn’t the best for you.
Whatever it is, your ‘but’ is holding you back. Keeping you from being all you were created to be.
It needs to be uncovered and dealt with.
Even though we can fool other people into thinking our life is great, going smoothly, we know deep down when something’s not right. Sometimes we’re not sure what the issue is and it takes some work . . . and possibly some help . . . to figure it out because it’s not always obvious.
And unfortunately, sometimes our life has to implode before we decide to deal with it.
Don’t wait for an implosion. They can be real messy. Trust me.
© Rhonda Fleming, 2013