"I was a thorn rushing to be with a rose,
vinegar blending with honey, a pot of
poison turning to healing salve, pasty
wine dregs thrown in the millrace. I was
a diseased eye reaching for Jesus' robe,
raw meat cooking in the fire. Then I found
some dirt to make an ointment that would
honor my soul, and in mixing that, I found
poetry. Love says, 'You are right, but
don't claim those changes. Remember, I
am wind. You are an ember I ignite.''
- Rumi
I have known God as many names... Constant, Provider, Comforter, Father, Lover, Friend, Strength, Song. But the name "Healer" has never truly hit home with me, mostly because I never knew I needed one. I've been blessed with health and strength, so I've never needed to rely in faith on the Healer for my physical needs. And until recently, I've been unaware of the festering sores deep within my soul that desperately need salve.
But by the goodness and grace of God, He's showing me my wounds.
We all walk with a limp. We are all the man outside of the gates called "Beautiful." For sin is the ultimate injurer and distance from God the ultimate salt on our wound. And subconsciously, we lean on other things - earthly things - for support. For me, it's been pride, anxiety, fear, and the approval of others that I have chosen to rely on as crutches for my limping, weakened soul. They've been my security blanket. But while I resorted to my sinful, earthly support systems, I was unaware that they only injured me further so that I always needed them more. They are the cast that stays for years without any results. The Father opened my eyes recently to my condition: I am a woman with polio, stints and crutches and bandages on all limbs, and I'm immobilized. When He showed me that He could remove these crutches, I was overjoyed. But He does more than that. He can heal the injury that led me to those vices in the first place. He can not only take off the stints, but He can restore my body so that I may run, jump, dance, leap!
Our Healer, though He may not always choose to heal our physical wounds, always chooses to heal our spiritual wounds - the things that keep us limping and immobile. And in doing so, He removes our need for the vices of the flesh so that we may truly live, walk, dance in freedom.
Oh, praise Him.
