For the last four days I’ve been playing the role of “nurse-mom”. It’s a role in which many of you are very familiar. Like a lot of families during this flu season, we have had an un-welcomed visit from a nasty virus. Ours happened to be of the stomach variety. It hit both kids pretty hard, and when kids get sick (yes, even the cool teenage versions) they usually need a little extra attention from mom. But when my hugs and gentle caresses weren’t sufficient at helping them feel better, I had to call on the doctor. I needed her help in getting my kids through this illness.

It’s been a long time since I’ve thought of Jesus in the role of the Great Physician, but this week, as I was taking care of my own children, that very thought came into my head. Jesus came to heal the world, spiritually. He was born to die in our place, and through this action of love, HEAL US from the sins that torture our souls.

Jesus also healed many people physically. In the Gospels we read about Jesus healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, curing the mute, casting out demons, and even raising the dead. Jesus healed the diseases of the physical body and then he healed and restored our dying souls. The Greatest Physician ever!

Mark 1:29-34 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Perhaps now, when so many people around us are fighting the flu or other seasonal illnesses, it’s a good time to talk to our children about Jesus, the Great Physician. We can teach them of his many miracles found in the Gospels, tell them that there is nothing too big or too small to bring to Him. Because for Jesus there is no lost cause, nothing too difficult or too trivial to heal. Whether that sickness is physical or spiritual, Jesus is our foundation of hope.

Sometimes we adults need to be reminded that our God desires to wipe away our tears, and heal our bodies and souls from whatever is attacking us. From the small stuff like a migraine headache to the enormous stuff, like cancer; from the little wrong doings we may do to each other as children, to the big sins we commit throughout our life, He is there desiring to make us healthy in all ways! He loves us, and like a parent who sits beside their sick child, He is there – caressing our foreheads and loving us through whatever is ailing us.

Do you have a physical or a spiritual ailment that you need healed? Take your broken selves to Jesus, the Great Physician. In doing this, we show our children that there is nothing impossible for our God. That they too can bring all of their needs to Him. He can heal all diseases on this side of eternity if it be His will, and He will restore all of our souls through His mercy and forgiveness.

Lisa Strnad is an independent contractor in Christian media as a writer, marketing consultant, and public relations specialist. She speaks to Christian women’s groups on the issues of motherhood, home schooling and raising a child with special needs. Lisa and her family make their home in Nashville.