Do you ever wonder why God chooses to heal one but not another?

Let me process this with you…
 
I recently spoke with a sweet little lady; she walks with a cane and told me of her chronic pain. Despite being ostracized by the church earlier in life, she let me pray over her.
My heart broke for her; her pain from experiences with the church, the noticeable physical pain in her frail body, but despite the years of pain, I could clearly see a heart that wants the fullness of God. She has an incredible heart of compassion and she loves like none-other. She doesn't have great wealth, yet she gives everything she has away – joyfully.  (Just to give you a little hint of her heart, she takes troubled people in to live with her, cares for them, and when she sees the simplest of need, she gives her all to meet it.)
 
His spirit is all over her, even if she can’t see it yet.
 
God’s message for her flowed through me, "You have an impactful and important place in the Kingdom of God. … You have an amazing mind that God has given you and…" She interrupted with pain and frustration in her eyes, "Yeah, but it [her mind] doesn't work; it doesn't work like it should!" Then God said, "Yeah, but it loves." That’s all it took for her to break. God loves her, so she loves others.
 
It didn’t bother me that God didn’t bring physical healing to her when I prayed. It was so much bigger than that; He brought so much spiritual healing in her life and began a process of realigning her heart with His. He didn't do what I was expecting but He spoke so much Truth into her and she was awakened to His heart for her. My heart burst with joy and thanksgiving.
 
I had no idea that God wasn't done!
 
Later that week, my little old friend be-bopped through my front door like a breath of fresh air. She carried no cane. She trotted over, gave me a hug and kiss, and I couldn’t help but feel this new spirit about her. "You're walking great and I noticed no cane! How are ya feeling?" She looked at me with pure excitement and threw her arms up. "I've been feeling SO HIGH lately; I've been doing GREAT! My back, hips, and everything are doing amazing! This is so amazing! God is doing so much in my life!" With an anticipating smirk I said, "Since when?" She looked at me with a smile from ear to ear and replied, "Well, ever since this little man put his hands on me last week and prayed over me.” My only response was a teary-eyed grin and a "PRAISE JESUS!"
 
Do you ever wonder why God chooses to heal one but not another?
 
We, as humans, see the physical need and want to meet it, so we pray for what we see. Sometimes though, God wants to heal first spiritually (Healing of the paralytic – Mark 2:1-12) before He meets the physical needs. Other times, God provides physical healing and then the spiritual follows (Raising of a Widow's Son – Luke 7:11-17).
 
God desires us to be in alignment with Himself.
 
Sometimes we miss it. I know I do. All we can do is follow His lead. We don’t always see the fruit first-hand either. He may be asking you to use your God-given spiritual authority to speak Truth and walk someone into spiritual healing; other times He may desire you to call the body into newness and heal. It's not ours to hang our nameplate on, nor is it ours to decide – it's ours to work in what He desires.
 
This isn’t a blanket answer to the questions I know arise as we follow God’s call of prayer and healing, but God has given me a little insight on what He sees as priority and I now have a new perspective on God's desire for our hearts when scripture says, "man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7) My desire is to see what the Lord sees, to see your heart as the priority and meet your needs where and how the Father desires.
 
When my little old friend walked in without a cane, God let me see the manifestation of both spiritual and physical healing and how He desires both, regardless of which comes first. It wasn’t easy for me to understand at first, but His heart for spiritual healing and how much greater it is than the physical leads me to a new understanding – It’s not about what we see, it’s about the heart – your heart. He wants it to be healed, to be whole, and He wants it to be just like His.