Pick Up Your Mat – A Healing Journey

There’s a story in John 5 that hits so close to home for me. It’s the story of a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years, lying near the Pool of Bethesda. Every day he waited for healing… but it never came. Until one day, Jesus walked by and asked him a question that pierced through the years of disappointment and hopelessness:

"Would you like to get well?"

— John 5:6, NLT

That question used to echo in my heart.

For many years, I struggled with obesity. Not just the physical weight, but the emotional weight, the spiritual weight, the hopelessness that wrapped itself around me like a heavy blanket. I believed deep down that healing wasn’t for me. That no matter what I tried, I would always fail. I was trapped in a body that felt older than I was, facing a long list of health issues—glaucoma, the loss of my gallbladder, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. I felt like a young person locked in a body that was falling apart. And I lived with enormous guilt and shame.

I would try to make changes—little efforts here and there—but like the man at the pool, I always found myself back in the same place. Stuck.

When Jesus asked the man, “Would you like to get well?” the man didn’t say yes. He gave excuses.

“I can’t, sir… someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

— John 5:7, NLT

And I get that. I lived that. “I can’t” became my mindset. I identified more with being sick, overweight, and broken than I did with being healed. I didn’t truly believe I could ever be well.

But Jesus wasn’t asking him to rely on the system or his circumstances. He was calling him to trust Him.

“Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

— John 5:8, NLT

And something shifted in me when I began to hear Jesus saying those words to me.

Not in condemnation—but in love. A Savior looking into my soul, saying, “You don’t have to lie there anymore. Your identity is not defined by your struggles. It’s in Me.”

And that began my healing journey.

It wasn’t overnight. It wasn’t easy. But by God’s grace and the strength He gives daily, I’ve lost 65 pounds so far—and counting. Every day, I make the choice to pick up my mat and walk. To stop seeing myself as a victim of my circumstances and instead walk as a daughter of the Most High, redeemed and renewed.

Like me, you too can be free. You can rise from whatever has held you down—whether it’s physical illness, addiction, fear, shame, or lies you’ve believed about yourself. Jesus is still asking, “Do you want to be well?” And if your answer is yes, He will meet you there.

Not in your perfection, but in your faith.

Reflection:

• What mat have you been lying on for too long?

• Have you allowed your struggle to become your identity?

• What would it look like for you to rise, by faith, and walk in healing?

Prayer:

Jesus, thank You for meeting me in my brokenness and loving me there. Thank You for not walking past me, but speaking directly to my heart. Give me the courage each day to rise, to pick up my mat, and to follow You—step by step. I believe You are able to heal, restore, and renew. Help me to live in the truth of who I am in You.

Amen.