You may have heard it said about someone, "She's the picture of health." But what does that mean?
Both the words health and healing have at their root the idea of wholeness. Perhaps at times you've been the picture of health, fit and feeling great, while other times you struggled through an illness or injury to return to a place of healing. You might see two apparently healthy women at church; one may be enjoying her health due to a proactive lifestyle of eating right and exercising, while the other may be grateful for her health due to restoration and healing.
I think as Christians, we also can experience both types of health. There's the healthy kind of Christian living that evolves as we practice spiritual disciplines such as scripture reading, prayer and community. As we seek to integrate all our parts - emotional, spiritual, physical and mental - we grow into the whole person God intends us to become. But at times in our spiritual lives, the health we enjoy is a result of God restoring a broken relationship, healing past hurts or freeing us from some besetting sin.
Wholeness. It's a beautiful thing. And it's ours in Christ, no matter how we come by it.
Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind,
had settled on us as the focus of his love,
to be made whole and holy by his love. Ephesians 1:4 (MSG)
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