Physical Healing and Wholeness: A Holistic Approach
Theme for Week Three in Lent
Reflection By Scott Stoner
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.
- 3 John 1:2
Eighteen years ago, I was hit by a car on my bicycle. I was knocked unconscious for several hours and ended up with multiple injuries, including a traumatic brain injury that took several years to recover from.
My physical pain was acute for quite a while, but gradually calmed down. Unbeknownst to me, but quite apparent to those closest to me, six months after my accident, my mental health was suffering. Like the Samaritan woman at the well that Rob Hirschfeld wrote about yesterday, the trauma I was carrying was weighing me down and becoming visible to those closest to me. With the support of family, friends, and my faith community—who spoke the truth with love to me—I was able to get help and recover.
I learned a valuable lesson in my recovery. I, like everyone, am wonderfully created by God as a whole—body, mind, heart, and spirit—meaning that physical well-being is interconnected with all aspects of well-being. This is our theme for this week as we explore how our physical well-being both affects and is affected by our spiritual, emotional, and relational dimensions of wellness.
Making It Personal: Bring to mind a time when your physical health either affected or was affected by your emotional, spiritual, and relational health. Pause and reflect on what you might learn from this experience.