AND A TIME TO HEAL-IGNORING THE SIGNS

Our son is a great example of ignoring signs, warnings, directions, etc.  Back in 1990, our dirt road had just been created. The gravel on it were large.  We were excited to see a mountain carved and a road appear. All five of us along with my mom and youngest brother were there checking it out.  We told our son not to run-but he did, downhill. Pretty quickly, he fell forward and the screams rang across the mountain range.  He was almost ten, but the rock stuck within his knee as the blood gushed out, made him feel like a 5-yr old. I picked him up. Threw him in the car (ok, I placed him), and off we went to the hospital. After treatment, he learned his lesson-for the time being.

Another time, he was about 16 when like a mad rider, he whizzed across our roads downhill on his miniature bike.  I told him, “Be careful, remember: it’s to the dentist we’re going, not to the doctor.  A few minutes later as we waited for him, and he didn’t show, we thought something might have happened to him.  A few minutes later, he came home staggering in pain.  “What happened?” I asked. “I fell on the turn” he said.  “So, where’s the bike?” I asked.  “And where are your glasses?” I drilled him. “They’re out there on the back road where I hit a hole” he said. I headed back and found his pretzeled bike and equally disfigured eyeglasses!  Back to the hospital.

Fast-forward about another 10 year: our son was dropped off a few blocks from his house by a friend and coworker. “Go straight home and don’t hang out around here” he was told. It being a few days before Christmas, he decided to hang out near a bakery.  He soon noticed a car coming towards them and suddenly slow down.  The minute he saw that, he realized what it might be: a drive-by-shooting! He quickly rose, attempted to run, but fell.  He couldn’t understand why, but got up again, and fell again.  He realized a bullet had ricochet off the sidewalk and pierced his shin bone. The intended target, however, never got  up again.  Back to the hospital; only this time, for a long while and returning on a wheel chair for several months before graduating to crutches.  Did I fail to mention our daughter fracturing her two arms…?

After each “accident” he needed healing.  True, he disregarded all the signs, but thankfully, God is merciful.

“But You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth” (Psalm 86:15);                    

Your issues might be more serious than these trivial ones.  But, nonetheless, might require healing.  Whether it’s physical, mental, or verbal abuse, sickness, a disease, losing a job, your home, your loved ones, or a splintered relationship, God is better than any glue out there and able to put you together.  He can heal every part of you. Are you heeding His warnings?  Are you following His signs?  Are you listening to His voice?  Fear Him! Cry out to Him!  Check it out: “But for you who fear My name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings;” (Malachi 4:2a).

“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

Healing is for the hurt who need it from God.

Sam