I was driving home from work last week, on a day like many others. The rain was falling, I was feeling like I had a lot to do and too little time, and I was listening to the radio. A song came on that I know and love but on that day it struck me in a way it never had before.
Healing Rain, one of the many moving songs by Michael W. Smith, played and I felt all of my worldly worries wash away, right then and there. It was as if time had ceased to exist as I watched individual raindrops roll in slow motion down my windshield and the words he sang went straight to my heart. Tears of joy, and tears of shame are washed forever in Jesus’ name.
These words pierced through me and I was overcome by the times in my own life and in the lives of countless friends and family in Christ have been hit by such a force that only heaven’s healing rain could truly fix the problem. Sometimes life take a miracle, yet we see them everyday when we look through God’s eyes.
When pains and sorrows seem to suck the life out of our days and we have no words to speak, the Holy Spirit is there with us, guiding us, promising and comforting us. The sun of righteousness will rise with healing (Malachi 4:2). Isn’t that a beautiful image? A breathtaking sunrise that will wash away the pains after the rain has fallen in our lives. Glory!
The face of the matter is that things happen in each of our lives that we don’t want to happen, we have to deal with stuff we would rather not, and sometimes life can be overwhelming, at best. But friends, even in these times when all our natural instincts tell us to run away from the pain, God is speaking softly in our ears, reminding us that we can run into His arms.
David wrote in Psalms 62:8, Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. He is there, He knows our best, our worst, our weakness, and our strength, and like a patient grandparent, God is waiting with open arms for you to come and gather at His feet for protection, guidance, and healing.
Oh Lord, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you (Psalms 41:4). It is no secret that human nature is more inclined to evil than to good. We see the painful evidence everywhere we turn. Some faces hide the pain better than others, but it is still there, just below the surface. The perfect news is this: that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24).
Isn’t that wonderful?! Isn’t that marvelous news?! Isn’t it such a relief to know that all of our sins, all of our cruel deeds, all of our hurts and pains, all of our natural imperfections are not tallied up against us? I am constantly amazed and blessed by this realization as I go through my daily life, sometimes letting my worldly nature get the better of me.
By faith in God, through Jesus Christ, His son, you and I can put down our pain and allow the healing rains pour down on us like a fountain from heaven and wash us clean. God made a covenant with Noah after the great flood that Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy life. (Genesis 9:14-15) Although God was referring to actual floods destroying the earth, through Jesus’ sacrifice, we are also protected from the storms of life destroying us.
We have trials and seasons that test us, mind and body, but we are never given an undertaking that we are not also given the strength to overcome. I believe it was Mother Teresa who said,I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much. Isn’t that the truth, friends? But when the storm clouds gather, as they will, respond with prayer.
Pray, have faith in Him, and know that you are loved and that no one, least of all God, wants to watch you be destroyed by the floods in your life. When we have faith, even in the midst of life’s storms, all can see and feel it, just as the crippled man in the book of Acts. Paul was teaching and could see just by looking into the face of this crippled man across a crowded roomthat he had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9) and was healed by his faith.
Our faith outshines the storms and even as we are walking through our darkest hours, if we do so with faith in God on our side our hearts will, indeed, be washed in the healing rains and we will emerge singing His praises.
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5: 2-5)
Friends, are the tears falling in your world right now or do you have some old wounds that cut so deep they just don’t seem to be healing? There is healing in God. God is like the kindest of parents, He loves us whether we acknowledge Him or not, but when we do, He rejoices! When we have been battered or have fallen, all we have to do is go to Him, pray to Him, show Him our pain and watch as He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds (Psalms 147:3).
Healing through Him is available to all, no matter the circumstances. Whether you were raised knowing Him or were raised to loathe Him, He has loved you since the beginning of time and rejoices when you allow Him into your heart. Call out and feel the healing rains fall.
Ladies, we have to be more careful. We have to not only be faithful and walk with Him in all we do, but we also have a responsibility to not lead others in the wrong direction. We yield an awful lot of power. Scary, isn’t it?
), in fact we are living more simply than before, but the blessings the world can’t see and judge are so often the most fulfilling to me.
