#godshealing

Write a want ad that describes you, if you were to be for sale....

Kelly Snider

I grew up with a dad who loved the mountains and knew them like the back of his hand. While I was still in school, my dad would lead hikes for the Mountaineers, taking groups to all kinds of trails, peaks, and mountains throughout Washington. In the summer, when school was out, we would go on hikes as a family. I remember not being too fond of these family outings.  Hiking was hard. The views didn’t captivate me. All I wanted to see what a wild animal - a cougar, a bear - but those were rare. I’m sure I complained the whole time about how my legs were tired. 

This past year, when hard times hit and a family intervention led to months of counseling, I found myself reluctantly signed up for many-a-day-hike with a dear friend. Needing to get out and at the same time to be around a trusted friend, I agreed to go with her. She would haul my ass out of bed at ungodly hours (4:30 AM anyone?) and drive me to faraway places. Then, she would drag me up hillsides to waterfalls, scramble over rocks to old fire lookouts, and across ridges to places that I had never been before. Initially, the hikes started out as, like I mentioned, a way to get out and for a few hours be removed from the battle I was fighting back at home in reality. Out in the woods, up on a mountain, I was detached from this. It was me and a friend and lots of trees. It was a distraction that worked. Slowly, it became a challenge. If I can make it up this mountain, maybe I can start to heal, too. And in the end, and at the top when I looked out onto what seemed like endless peaks all around me, it was distant mountains that became dreams. 

By the end of the season, I had done everything from scaling walls of rocks, to climbing a mountain, to glissading down a snow field. I had backpacked over 20 miles until my feet were so blistered I could barely walk. Though I could wipe the sweat off of my face, by the end of the season, my smile was back and it was something that I couldn’t wipe off my face. And no one else could, either. The joy of being God’s precious girl had filled my heart again. 

The mountains brought me healing. The mountains took a good friend and made her one of my best. We became inseparable - every weekend together, every weekend a different place. Along with the Ten Essentials, we brought our bibles. At the top of whatever we were climbing, we would sit with our bibles and bask in God’s glory that surrounded us and in His Word that sustains us. His Word, that for me, became my daily bread. I had never known God’s Word like this before. 

The mountains became my passion. And as I head out into this season, I do so with a fresh look. With a sense of freedom and excitement that I haven’t felt before. My friend and I have already put two backpacking trips on the calendar, and a sunrise hike (up at 4:00 AM this time) for this next weekend. Just thinking about it makes my heart beat…

I think what will be best about this season is that I only have the mountains in front of me. The literal, rock and dirt ones. Last year, I had a mountain of pain inside of me that had almost overtaken me. This year, this time around, I get to climb mountains just to climb mountains. I get to enjoy the view. I get to rejoice with Jesus over my testimony, over His faithfulness, kindness, and care. Over all that He did in my life last year. Over His beautiful creation.

God is good. Though we have seasons where the mountains may be shaken, and the hills be removed, His unfailing love will not be removed from us. And out of those come seasons of joy and peace.

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7

Though the mountains be shaken     and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken     nor my covenant of peace be removed,”     says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of being in a Bible study that looked in depth at the person of Jesus. His life, His characteristics, His ministry, His relationship with His disciples, and His tragic yet triumphant end. We know Jesus by many names. He is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. Son of God, God in the flesh. The Rock upon which we stand. He is our Hope. Our Salvation. Redeemer. Transformer. Healer...

We see Jesus as the Healer many times in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He healed the sick and raised the dead on more than one occasion. Two stories in particular came to my mind this week as I have been reflecting on Jesus the Healer in my own life. After a rather dreadful week of heartache, which is in my mind one of the worst of pains, I was surprised to find myself feeling free, healed, and ... wait for it ... joyful. My appetite returned. I could feel peace. Rarely in my life do I feel the kind of peace that the Bible talks about - the kind that surpasses all understanding. My "peace" is almost always circumstantial. But, not this time around. Only a week after a breakup in which I could've sworn my heart had been permanently shattered, and here I was with both peace and joy. And upon examination, I couldn't deny it: I was healed. 

...

In Luke 7, we see two back-to-back healing miracles. In the first, the faith of a centurion moves Jesus to heal his servant who has fallen ill. Right after this, Jesus goes from Capernum to Nain where He walks into a funeral procession. The funerals of ol' (and of the Jewish people) were vastly different than the somber tones of funerals in our culture today. During this time, the depth of mourning over the dead individual was reflected in the volume of the mourners' cries. Knowing this, can you imagine the sound of a widow mother mourning the death of her only son? The pain she was feeling must have been close to unbearable. I'm sure she not only wept over the loss of her son, but at the sheer pain of being completely alone. 

As the One who is Life, death was a hard thing to observe. As Christ walked into this funeral procession, the Bible says His heart went out to her. He felt deeply for her. He didn't just feel. He felt deeply. 

Sometimes the stories in the Bible can become dulled. We can read them over - revel in their beauty - but not stop to really think about what they say about the character of Jesus. So, I invite you to stop and really think about this: He felt deeply for this woman. He heard her cries and felt her pain. How did He react? He reached out and touched the coffin, a move that was culturally frowned upon (customs and laws of the time stated that touching the dead would make you "unclean"). Yet, He reached out and touched the coffin. Like a Band-aid, He reached out and applied Himself. He heard the cries of a widow who had just lost her only son, and He stretched out His hand to touch and to heal. 

Christ didn't need to touch in order to heal. We see other circumstances in which He merely spoke and someone was healed (Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:34, Luke 9:37-43). Christ also didn't need the person who needed the healing to have faith. In this story, we have no indication of this woman's faith. All we know is that she was grieving, literally crying out, and Jesus came with unrestrained power and brought her son back to life in an instant. In an instant. 

What does that say about Jesus? I think it says that what comes most naturally to Him is healing. We see other situations - for example when the disciples were out on the lake in a violent storm (Mark 6:45-56) - where Jesus doesn't come instantly and heal. After feeding the 5,000, as the crowds gathered around Him, Jesus told His disciples to go out across the lake. He retreated up on the mountainside to spend time with His Father. The disciples, out on the lake battling a fierce storm, didn't see Jesus' power until they had been out in the storm for 8 hours. I'm sure at several points during this 8 hour battle they thought to themselves, "Where is Jesus this time? Why hasn't He come to save us?" They had seen His ability to heal the sick, raise the dead, and calm the storm. So where was He this time? 

He was up on the mountainside. Out of sight, but never out of reach. Waiting, but not forgetting. And in His sovereign judgment, He walked down the mountain and out to the disciples at just the perfect time. We don't know why He would've chosen to do this after 8 hours of waves beating against the boat, but, He did. I don't think that this means that He doesn't want to come out and save and heal - quite on the contrary. I think that the character of Jesus is to heal. What self-control and self-restraint must He have in order to hold back those healing powers until just the right time! He knows the power of His healing touch. He also, in His infinite wisdom, knows the perfect timing to release it...

...

How amazing to know the character of Jesus. To read about and learn about that healing power, and then experience it personally. Sometimes, it is slow. This past year, I went through a healing process that was months long. So, this time, when my heart was broken again, I couldn't even cry out to God. I was tired. Defeated. It took all of my energy to have the faith to pray for the resurrection power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, to raise me. I couldn't do it on my own, that was for sure. Nor did I want to. I felt too defeated to even care. Even still, I uttered this prayer over and over again. Resurrect me, God. Resurrect me. 

I heard a sermon that put a seed of hope into my heart. The speaker said something that really resonated in my soul. He said that nothing takes place without divine purpose or oversight. This sparked a glimmer of hope in me.  Reminded me to trust and helped me to believe that God wants good things for me (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28). This is something that I have really struggled with in the past. A year earlier, my faith had skewed and I began to view God as distant and authoritative. Worse, I believed that God wanted to take away good things from me. 

This tiny seed of faith was enough for me to start the healing process. Trust and hope poured back into me. In an instant, I was healed. 

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, 'Don't cry'"- Luke 7:13

There’s no space that His love can’t reach There’s no place that we can’t find peace There’s no end to Amazing Grace Take me in with your arms spread wide Take me in like an orphan child Never let go, never leave my side. I am, Holding on to You. I am, Holding on to You. In the middle of the storm, I am Holding on, I am!