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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

My Healer

Pastor did a summer sermon series on the Names of God. Some of the Names he preached on were Jehovah Jireh - The Lord my Provider, El Shaddai - The All Sufficient One, and Jehovah Rohi - The Lord my Shepherd.

The last name he spoke on is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer. I love this name. When I took Systematic Theology I in college we had to memorize a whole bunch of the Names of God and I remembered this one by imagining Jehovah Rapha as Jehovah Wrap-a like a bandage-my Healer.

There are three ways Jehovah Rapha wants to heal you....
  1. Emotional Healing - Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
  2. Physical Healing - 2 Kings 20:5-6 "‘...Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you..."
  3. Spiritual Healing - Isaiah 1:18 “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
The thing about healings is that they come in may forms and not usually in the way we think they should. There are instantaneous healings like in Acts 28:8-9 "And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him." There are also healings that occur over a period of time as in Acts 28:9 "So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed."

Yesterday morning I was straightening my hair when out of no where my neck popped and I could barely move. I couldn't turn my head at all. The pain was so intense I was brought to tears. I had a meeting that morning to get to so I cried (literally) out to Jehovah Rapha to heal my neck. As I cried I also worship Jehovah Rapha for the healing that was already happening in my body even though I couldn't feel or see it. I KNEW it was coming because I have chosen to believe what the Word of God says and it said that He will heal me, not He might heal me, but HE WILL HEAL ME!

By the time I got in the car to leave for my meeting I was still in a lot of pain. I relied solely on my mirrors because I couldn't turn my head at all. I was still in tears, so I called in the re-enforcements--my man of God. I tried to suck it up and not get all emotional but I couldn't. The pain was too intense As I sobbed, he prayed, and Jehovah Rapha healed.

In that instant I knew that Jehovah Rapha was giving me an instantaneous healing as well as a healing that would occur over a period of time. I felt immediate relief. I was able to turn my head enough to allow me to safely and somewhat comfortably drive to my meeting. The excruciating pain that had brought me to my knees never came back. Throughout the day the pain lessened. I went to bed with a moist heating pad on my neck.

I woke up this morning with only the slightest discomfort when I turn my head deeply to one side or the other. That's it!!! Jehovah Rapha displayed His instant healing as well as His on-going healing in me.

I just had to share this with you, because you may be going through a time in your life where you are in need of a healing of your own. You may have been praying for years wondering if God even heard your prayers. I want you to know that He does hear you and He wants to heal you! Don't give up. Your healing is coming! Jehovah Rapha is the Lord YOUR HEALER!

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

With a bit of shellfish thrown in for good measure...

Hi.

It's been a while...I know...but as I've said before, with Twitter and Facebook, I've lost that blogging feeling. I even think in tweets, 140 characters or less. Crazy, I know. If only I would have known how those would both become so much a part of my everyday life however many months/year ago when The Music Man convinced me that my life was totally void of meaning without Twitter and Facebook in it, I would have thought twice about signing up. Nah. I still would have but for a few moments I would have felt sad about the neglect of this blog that my new love affair would lead to.

Aaaaannnnnnyyyyyyyyyyywaaaaayyyy...that's not what this post's supposed to be about. (I always feel like I need to explain myself to my two readers (Hi Mom and Grandma!!!). And, here I go again...more explaining.)

Let's get on with this post....

Two weeks ago we celebrated my man's birthday. It wasn't a monumental one this year. (That was last year and we did nothing for his or mine...something that we have since regretted!) A good friend of ours, John, has a birthday two days after The Music Man's so we usually celebrate their birthdays together. This year was no different....If we're friends on FB you already know all this and have seen the pictures from our Lobster Feast. The Birthday boys...



Again, that is not what this post is about. I'm getting to it...I promise!

See this beautiful lady below with the cake?...That's my friend Sandy. She married John. They had three kids who are all mostly grown now. Their second son is getting married this Saturday. I know, right! There's no possible way that she could be old enough to have a son getting married, much less two sons that are (will be) married and a grandson! But she does and she's amazing and SHE is the whole reason for this post. Well, more specifically, her TOES are the reason for this post...
See the night of the birthday festivities I noticed her toe nail polish and I FELL. IN. LOVE. It was THE color I have been wanting for years! I told her that and asked her what it was and who it was and where it was. She gave me all the info and I continued to admire her toes for the rest of the evening. Then I went home, put my kids to bed, and forgot about it.

Until this past Saturday night, when in a panic I went to the Walmarts in search of the color on Sandy's toes even though I knew I wouldn't find it, but I just had to try to find SOMETHING like it.

Yea, I didn't.

What I found was terrible and not what the sample card said it was and it looked terrible and I was so upset at the result that I contemplated wearing closed-toe shoes on Sunday because of it, but then I remembered that I don't wear closed-toe shoes unless it's snowing and threw on the cutest pair of sandals I could find with the hopes they would make up for the ugly toe polish.

Then I went to church.

Just as church was starting, Sandy comes running up to me and hugs me saying, "I got you something. I know you loved my toe nail polish so I got you some." She then handed me the little Trade Secret bag with my very own nail polish JUST LIKE HER'S!!!

I. was. blown. away.

You see, I've been blessed with some amazing friends over the course of my life, but it's been a rare friend who does those little thoughtful things that take them over the edge into the AWESOMEST territory. That's what Sandy did. I totally planned on getting my own at some point in time, but she knew I liked it and decided to just go get it for me. If I had worn socks and closed-toe shoes, they would have been blown off. That's how blessed I was.

That kind of friend is rare. When you find one, do everything you can to hold on to them for life. I'm enourmously blessed to have a number of these friends in my life right now.

One time I couldn't go on a girls only weekend, so my girlfriend brought me home lip gloss.

Another time (for my birthday) a couple of my girlfriends went together and got me a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse because they knew I was nervous about homeschooling this fall.

Friendships are about a whole lot more than common likes and life situations. They're meant to be give and take. They're about two people being there for one another even when it's really hard to be there or you feel like you're not wanted. Friendship is not about the friends you have, it's about the friend you are.

So these are my new toes...cute, right?
If you're wondering what color that is...it's OPI Pink Flamenco. Sandy got mine at Trade Secret in the neighborhood malls, or you can get it here.
So in closing....I guess this post is about friendship and nail polish with a bit of shellfish thrown in for good measure. Everything is better with shellfish.
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