Every time I sit with a new client, I mentally calculate the amount of work that needs doing to heal their spirit, make whole again. Basing the program on scientific journals of treatment plans and outcomes, I feel overwhelmed : 6 to 12 months of twice a week meetings to deal with anxiety or depression; bi-weekly meetings to change behaviour or unhealthy thought patterns; one to two years to work on bulimia;  Non-ending support and after care for PTSD and Bullied kids; minimum 1 year work plan for leadership development. These past few days showed those scientific journals wrong! For reasons definitely beyond my understanding and capacity as a helper, my most challenging clients have made great strides, growing leaps and bounds. The supervisor is now a manager; the daughter who was raped finally has placed her perpetuator in jail; the young man who lived in hate and anger has moved to forgiveness; the middle-aged woman who hid her rape in shame has let go of the secret. Is the secret sauce my brilliance? my fantastic program? maybe the assessment tools? From where I am sitting, it may  part explain. But from a scientific perspective, something or Someone has to account for that outlier result. It is quite possible that the miracles of the season I see means I was never ever ever working alone. And that gives me comfort.

This all brings me to reflect on Mathew 11: Is it you Lord who is to come or are we to wait on someone else? John asks as he languishes in prison for doing God’s work. And Jesus responds, “Go and report to John what you hear and see; the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me” (Mt. 11:4-5). He could have scolded them for doubting Him, but He does not. Instead, Jesus instructs the disciples of John to look around them, to see the suffering of so many being healed. The point behind this point seems to be that no one but the Messiah would be able to do those things.