"This is my thorn in the flesh—I have to bear it until I die."
How it sounds in your head: Paul had his thorn, and I have mine. Maybe this wheelchair, this oxygen tank, this pain is what God has chosen for me to keep me humble at the end. I've prayed, and nothing changed—so this must be my cross to bear.
"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
-- Isaiah 53:5Misinterpretation of 2 Corinthians 12:7 turned Paul's unspecified affliction into permission for all sickness.
She's prayed for healing repeatedly without seeing change, and Paul's thorn is the only biblical 'excuse' for unanswered prayer taught in church. The permanence of her condition makes it feel divinely assigned.
A woman was bent over for 18 YEARS, unable to stand straight—a long-term, seemingly permanent condition. Jesus called her forward, said 'Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity,' and IMMEDIATELY she was made straight and glorified God.
I REFUSE the lie that this sickness is my thorn to bear. IT IS WRITTEN that by His stripes I AM healed—present tense, accomplished fact. Jesus carried my sicknesses and my pains so I wouldn't have to. Paul's thorn was a messenger of Satan to buffet him, NOT a disease—and even if it were, I have a BETTER covenant established on BETTER promises. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and sickness is a work of the devil, not a gift from my Father. I am blessed coming in and going out, and the BARAK blessing commanded on Abraham's seed means divine health is my covenant right.
Your Father isn't asking you to white-knuckle your way to the grave bearing a thorn He assigned. He's the One who loosed the woman bent over for 18 years—and He's calling YOU forward right now, saying 'Daughter, you are LOOSED.'