When Healing Becomes a Battle: Learning to Trust God in Seasons of Change

Clayton Izell
Oct 15
2 min read

There are seasons in life when change doesn’t ask for permission—it just shows up. Sometimes it looks like a doctor’s appointment that turns into surgery. Other times it’s recovery that takes longer than expected, leaving us feeling useless, restless, or even a little angry. Healing sounds peaceful… until you’re the one walking through it.

When your body is forced to slow down, your mind doesn’t always follow. You can be lying still and still feel like you’re fighting a war inside—wrestling with questions like:

• “Why now?”

• “Why this?”

• “How long until I feel normal again?”

• “What am I supposed to do while I wait?”

Change Has a Way of Stripping Us Bare

There’s something about physical pain, surgery, or recovery that pulls back the curtain on what we really believe. It reveals our patience… our pride… our need for control. When you can’t work like you used to, can’t move like you used to, can’t be productive—it forces you to confront a deeper truth:

God values obedience over speed. Surrender over strength. Presence over productivity.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10 (NKJV)

Healing Isn’t Just About the Body

Sometimes God uses physical recovery to do heart surgery, too. When we’re laid up and still, He begins to speak into places we’ve been too busy to notice:

• The anxious thoughts we’ve been masking with activity.

• The fears we’ve ignored by staying busy.

• The pride that says, “I’ll handle this myself.”

Healing is holy ground. It’s where God reminds us that our worth was never in our output—but in the fact that we belong to Him.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” — Psalm 147:3 (NKJV)

God Does Some of His Deepest Work in the Valley

We often pray for strength, but then God answers by giving us stillness.

We pray for patience, and He gives us waiting.

We pray for faith, and He gives us seasons where He is the only steady thing left to cling to.

Maybe that’s where you are right now—somewhere between the pain and the promise. Not where you used to be, not yet where you’re going.

If that’s you, hear this:

God is not punishing you by slowing you down. He is preparing you.

Salt & Steel is about walking through the storms—not pretending they don’t exist.

If you’re in a season of healing, you are not falling behind. You are being rebuilt.