Ten men came to Jesus for healing. They had leprosy. Lepers were outcasts from society. They were estranged from their families...hidden away in caves, their deformities wrapped in linen rags. Their physical and emotional pain was beyond words.

"Jesus was walking past their village, and these ten tragic men stood at a distance, crying out to him, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' Jesus looked on their deep physical and emoitional pain and said, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus shouting,'Praise God!' He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him over and over for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?'" - Luke 17:11-19

What do we learn from this story?...Jesus heals!...But we also learn that when we get what we want, we, like the nine lepers, can easily go on our own way, forgetting to give thanks to God. We pray for God's intervention in our lives, and then congratulate ourselves rather than God for the results.

Please don't miss the other truth from this story...Jesus equates giving thanks with giving glory to God. I wonder...would I have returned to thank Jesus...would you? Or would we walk on with forgetful hearts?

Years ago while I was going to school to be a trained Spiritual Director( basically one who points out where God is in someone's life through scripture, prayer and listening...a big "arrow" always pointing to God) I was meeting with three ladies in Spiritual Direction. My role was to listen prayerfully as they spoke and reflect back what they were unable or many times, unwilling to see themselves. One particular woman was struggling with drinking and depression. She, like the lepers, was living in a cave, wrapped up and stolen away from friends and family. She was insecure and afraid and life had no meaning...We met together for two years, and during that time I prayed for her, listened to her and made suggestions of scriptural truths to read and gave assignments of ways that she could spend time with God. Throughout that time the stigmas attached to many failed relationships and poor choices began to peel away layer by layer, until one evening I led her in a prayer to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

She had just revealed a heartbreaking moment and I felt God's Holy Spirit prompt me to ask what I had asked many times before, "Do you want to pray to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?" "Yes", she said this time, "I do". I could see the pain on her face and sense her sincerity, and so we prayed together, and she opened her heart to the glorious healer.

Instantly she felt a new peace. I remember the look on her face as if it were yesterday. I was filled with joy for her, remembering how my own life had changed years before...But, despite her instantaineous deliverance from alcholisim and depression (which has proved to still be gone after many years to this date) she began to fall away from Jesus as quickly as she had come to him.

I was heartbroken...so was Jesus. She had believed for that one moment, that Jesus could and would, heal her...and He did. As I said, I still know her and she was completely delivered and changed...but her family and husband were not believers, and she quickly fell away.

Several months after that tear filled evening, where I was privy to the joy and peace that she had received, I spoke with her on the phone. "You know", I began, "This is not going to be something that you want to hear, but I need to tell you." I recounted to her the story about the ten lepers..."You are one of the nine who just walked away" I said sternly. "I love you dearly, but you just let Jesus heal you and moved on without thanking him" I said. "Have you ever stopped to think that he saved your life?...That He has a purpose for you?" I asked... There was complete silence on the other end of the phone. I am challenging you to stand up for Him", I pleaded. I know that no one else in your life but me believes in Jesus, but Jesus believes in you!"

She agreed surprisingly enough, that I was right, and does still talk to me. We dance around this truth uncomfortably each time that we see each other, without saying a word...I can see it in her eyes. Being around me is convicting, and she tries to brush it away with light banter and the news of the day, but it is there, in her eyes, the truth of it all.

I pray for her daily. I have not given up on the seeds planted during our time together. God's word has power to accomplish what he wills, and he most certainly loves her. I know that someday, perhaps when she has children of her own, she will allow herself to truely remember the direction that her life was ging in at that time, and how graciously it has been altered by a God so willing to heal her. Eventually the truth of that merciful love will scream so loudly that she will not be able to shut it out any longer....I pray for that day, when she will thank the Lord and leave everything and follow him!

You see, you can share the truth with many people...but only some will receive it with thanksgiving. Only a few will drop everything and follow. Only a portion will sit "right minded" at Jesus's feet.

Part of being healed, is realizing that you are different...and walking as if you are no longer sick. If you are a leper, you have physical and emotional pain. People can see your physical ailments, but not the emotional ones. There are millions of emoitonal lepers in this world...slinking behind shadows in their self made caves...wrapped in the suggestions of abuse and the moldings of other people in their lives....standing at a distance from their families and friends...There is a healer...He is able and willing to heal...many receive Christ and then walk away without saying thank you, without glorifying God. These people have encountered the one who could set them free, and yet they walk cloaked in a prison of ungratefulness, thinking that they are experiencing freedom.

Do you have a relationship with Christ? Do you truly realize what he has done for you? Are you thankful?

 He will not force you to come to Him in gratitude...it has to come from your own heart to actually be thankfulness...