I Know the Healer.

"Do you feel the weight of the world singing sorrow? Can you feel the souls behind what's going on?" -The Rocket Summer  

One day in third grade, I remember being so overcome with sadness at school that I had to go home. There was no particular reason I was so saddened, there was just an ache within me. I remember spending the day crying on my mom's lap. I remember telling her, 'there's always something to cry about'.

Note: All photos were taken on a sunny November day at the Idaho State Penitentiary Museum.

I think this was the first time I had felt the ache. I am now very familiar with the ache. You know the ache too. The ache of all the sadness and brokenness in our lives and in our worlds. Of severed relationships, of unmet dreams, of loneliness, of tragedy, of sorrow and loss. This is compassion. This is part of being human.

Sometimes I feel overcome with the ache, with the weight of all the sadness and brokenness in the world. I don't know what I could possibly do or what could possibly happen to heal all the heartbreak. And then I remember-

I know the Healer.

When I see no feasible human solution for the mess we have caused, no one who could possibly fix the problems we have caused, I remember-

I know the Healer.

When there's an issue in my own life and I feel trapped, hopeless, depending on the wrong things for happiness, reflecting on every hurt in the past, and all sorts of emotionally unhealthy, I remember-

I know the Healer.

And the Healer has told us who He is.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. -2 Corinthians 5:18-19

He is the God of reconciliation. He will reconcile all things to Himself and make all things new. He will put back together the things that are broken. And He is not waiting to do this- He is at work now. He is healing right now.

I must take a deep breath and remind myself- I know the Healer. I must remember how He has healed my heart and the heart of the world in the past. I must remember His promise that He is coming to heal. I must remember that He is healing right now, at this very moment- even if we don't see it.

And until we see that healing, we can hope in Him. We can have faith that He is healing. We can tell our stories, our stories of Jesus binding up what is broken.

This scripture, Isaiah 61, is such a beautiful picture of the reconciliation we have and will have in Jesus Christ. I hope it gives you as much hope as it gives me.

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.
⁵ Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
⁶ And you will be called priests of the Lord,
    you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
    and in their riches you will boast.

⁷ Instead of your shame
    you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
    you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
    and everlasting joy will be yours.

⁸ “For I, the Lord, love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
    and make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
    that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations.

I know the Healer. And I know that He will draw near, remove the ache, and fill us up with more peace and gladness then we can begin to understand.

linking up with: 

Coffee for Your Heart
Grace and Truth
Faith-Filled Friday
Spiritual Sundays
Making your Home Sing Monday
Monday's Musings
Titus 2sdays
Women with Intention Wednesday