THE HEALING MIRACLE WATERS

At the present time I am spending a couple of months enjoying the California desert and the healing hot mineral waters. The waters really are healing! People come from all over the USA and Canada come to take in the magic healing waters of Desert Hot Springs. The analysis of the water shows the sulfur content to be very high; but it's in a crystallized form, so there is no odor. Dr. Robert Bingham, who heads the Desert Hot Springs Arthritis and Medical Clinic, "says these waters have a curative effect on the human body".

Last year, a couple months after my husband of forty-five years passed away, I spent two weeks with his sister taking in the healing waters of the California desert. I didn't notice any curative effect on my body...but my spirit...Oh how the healing waters helped my spirit heal. For two weeks we had our ritual...just take in the water.

The solitude of just sitting in the healing waters gave me the time I needed to just think and pray. Think about a future that I thought at that time was non-existent. I couldn't even imagine a future without my high school sweetheart, my friend, my lover. Was there a future worth looking forward to? Silence to reflect on God's love and remember that even though at times I felt it wasn't so...God still did love me.

I was mourning my husband and friend and his sister was mourning the loss of her only brother. It started the healing process for both of us. At the pool of healing waters we would talk and share stories of the man we both loved. We would share and the healing tears would fall...we would hug and I would wonder if this hole in my heart would ever go away...and the healing tears would fall. By opening our hearts to each other it encourage our bodies to start the natural healing process. It was our healing ritual!

It is now almost a year later and I am healing...the hole in my heart is still there but now it doesn't seem like it might be terminal. The pain has subsided...the infection did not spread to my spirit. Is the healing complete? No, and I don't believe it will ever be complete. That edge of sadness I believe keeps me tenderhearted and gives me more appreciation of how special family and loved ones are to me.

I arrived here again, to the California desert and the healing waters, six weeks ago and soon it will be time to return to my home and family But while here in the desert I have again taken part in the "healing waters". I have become an active participant in the healing process and I feel good. I feel good about my life. I feel optimistic!! I feel I have a purpose and I am at peace...or so I thought until last week. I ran into an old high school friend of my husbands and they had reconnected about two years before his death. He seemed genuinely surprised that I was doing so "good". I'm not sure what was expected of me but apparently I shouldn't be feeling quite so OK. Then later the guilt hit me. Why was I feeling so good about me when I should be feeling bad? I was feeling guilty for feeling good. Was I being disrespectful to his memory and maybe it meant I was forgetting him? When all else fails....Google. I didn't have my bible concordance with me so Google it was.

John 8:44 tells me that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. He wants me to feel guilt...that is his job and he is very good at it. As I sat there prayerfully considering my life this past year I came to the conclusion that there are just a few things that actually mattered. My family. My key relationships...with God...myself...and those around me. My values. My character. I had an Aha moment when I came to the conclusion that life isn't so much about what I do. Its more about who I am! And I am OK. ..I'm doing OK!