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In John 5, we read the story of a paralyzed man who lay by the healing waters of Bethesda for 38 years because he couldn’t enter the water without help.

            6.  When Jesus noticed him lying there, knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to Him, DO YOU WANT TO BECOME WELL? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?]

            7.  The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.

            8.  Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk!

            9.  Instantly the man became well and recovered his strength and walked.

            I’ve suffered from the SuperGal Syndrome a long time. My whole life, really. An only child of a strong father and a passive and gentle mother, I became the leader and she the follower. The SuperGal chains encircled me early. Competitive and achieving to make my parents proud.           

            When I became pregnant as a teen, followed by a hastily-arranged wedding, I was determined not to let them, or myself, down. I would achieve despite my circumstances.

            Living with the SuperGal Syndrome became a deeply ingrained way of life. I even believed I liked it—the control, running everyone’s life because I was good at it, keeping all the balls in the air. I learned to justify my lifestyle, and I fought to keep it. I believed that my responsibility for others (I didn’t recognize it as co-dependence), my control, my super powers, were what made me special.

            We enjoy that feeling of power. Perhaps we SuperGals enjoy the self-pity. “I have to do everything around this house/office/church/committee myself!” But if that’s the case, it’s because we want it done our way, or because we like to brag/complain about our heavy responsibilities.

            Sadly, sooner or later, we encounter a storm too strong for our super powers to control. We fail. It’s just the way of this world.

            The SuperGal Syndrome is a crutch, a point of pride, a chain of bondage. God wants me to use the gifts He has given me—of leadership, of the ability to get things done—for His purposes.

            Jesus showed me the cure. The way off the hamster wheel. He is healing me. I asked, and I am learning to hear, and obey.

            I have learned to “Just S.T.O.P.” when the ghost of my SuperGal taps me on the shoulder.

                        S-urrender

                        T-rust

                        O-bey

                        P-ray

            Do you want to be healed? Are you afraid to face that truth—that the SuperGal Syndrome is not all that? Do you want to admit that God sees it as sin? Is change uncomfortable?

            For me, it was yes, yes, yes and yes. I needed to ask God to get me through the changes, and then depend on Him to do what He promised.

            And once enlightened, I am called to be responsible for making the right choices. I succeed sometimes, and fail others. But I’m learning.

            God won’t respond to our self-pity without our desire, followed by our action. Jesus required the man in Bethesda to show his desire through faith, and to follow it up by action. Jesus told him, Get up, pick up his bed, and walk.

            Do you want to be healed?

            Lean in? You bet. Lean in on God.