SPRING FORTH NOW 2025

February 13

After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

John 5:1-9

You have waited long enough, and the moment is now. John 5:1–9 (KJV) tells of a man who stayed near the pool for years, yet his greatest limitation was not the water but his expectation. Knowing Your Blindspots means recognizing when you’ve adjusted to broken systems and mistaken delay for destiny. Jesus shifts the focus with one question, exposing how easily we settle into patterns that keep us stuck. From a High And Lifted Up perspective, healing begins when vision rises above excuses and meets obedience. For Black people who have mastered survival in places never built for our thriving, this passage is a holy interruption, calling us to stand. Rise, carry what once carried you, and move forward with confidence that restoration is not a rumor but a reality.