Healing Wounds Lightly

I don't like going to the dermatologist. Having had melanoma, I have to go twice a year for a skin check. Each time, the doctor cuts off a suspicious mole or freckle and I can barely stand it. It is not supposed to hurt (much) but I have a very low pain threshold. So this time, I steeled myself for the trauma to come, but prayed, "Lord, please don't let there be any suspicious moles."

The doctor, to whom I owe my life for having found a malignant mole before it advanced beyond level one, and was one I would NEVER have suspected, is my hero. Still, I felt like kicking her when she peered at some freckles with her magnifier and said, "Hmmmmmmm." Her assistant was taking notes, and when commanded, photographing these "hmmmmmm" moles. I resisted the urge to run from the room, made easier by the fact that I was naked save for a gown that ties in the back.

If only she would ignore the moles that give her pause. I mean, if they are outright no doubt cancerous, well sure, then alert the marines. But good grief, can't you relax your standards just a bit on those iffy ones, those ones that make you say "hmmmmmm" but not "AH HA!!!"?

Well, she could. And if she had 3 years ago, I might have died, cause melanoma is deadly. She would be showing no love, doing me no favors by pretending danger and destruction didn't lurk where indeed it did.

I thought of the abortion mills, where the word of God is despised and we pro-life counselors face anger and derision regularly. No one wants to hear naysayers shatter their peace, least of all those who already are wrestling with guilty consciences. No one wants to think the dangerous path they are on needs to veer across new, less comfortable terrain. No one is thrilled to suppress selfish desires for God's desires when they conflict. No one wants to hear one's choices are like cancer, leading to death of spirit and soul.

On Monday, one very vocal woman was shrieking at us as we tried to urge her to encourage her daughter not to kill her grandchild in the womb. A woman standing on the porch came closer, as we pleaded and shared God's word in exchange for the grandmother's anger. I thought she was being drawn to our sincere offer of hope and love and help to those who choose life. But instead, she tapped the grandmother on the shoulder and hugged her. Feeling supported now in her desire to kill her own unborn child, she then went in the abortion mill.

I'd have a lot more friends at the abortion mill if I just told the abortion-minded women what they were doing was great, and surely God would approve, or at least forgive, even though they were knowingly defying Him.

My thoughts were snatched back to the doctor. She slowly stood up from her intense inspection of all my flaws. I was sure the mole that got the longest "hmmmmm" was about to be whacked off. I have dutifully applied sunscreen, worn SPF clothing, and abided by everything the doctor has told me to do over the years. I held my breath as she stepped back, and looked at me.
"You look great!" she said.
"Nothing needs to be cut off!?" I exclaimed.
"Nope."
I clasped my hands above my head in prayer and thanks, "That is just what I prayed for!!"
"Your prayers were answered," she said, smiling, "Keep doing the right things."
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Jeremiah 6:14
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
 when there is no peace.