By His wounds, we are healed......

Isaiah 53: 5 ".... and by His wounds we are healed." 

This verse has been one of those that I have clung to over the many years of infertility. I've prayed many prayers claiming this promise. I've laid my hands on my abdomen, crying out to God to heal my womb. By His stripes I would be healed. I never really doubted that I would have a child. I knew that in God's timing, it would come to pass. His word promised me that I would be healed. 

This verse brought an entirely new meaning to me when my son, my Bryson, was laying in the NICU... very sick. "By Your wounds Jesus, my baby will be healed." I claimed it and knew it to be true! A new appreciation came over me for these "wounds", these "stripes". Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the very being that created this universe - took beatings, whips to his body, had blood pouring gashes so that my baby would be healed.... so that my baby could leave this hospital as a healthy child - go home with his parents who loved him so dearly and live a healthy life. I was perplexed that He loved me enough to do that.  I felt ashamed that He had to go through such a painful thing for me, for my son. I would stand over his isolate bed and thank God that so many many years ago, He sent His son so that for this very moment, my son could be healed.

And then.... after 13 days of living on this earth, Bryson went to live with Jesus. By His wounds, we are healed?! Oh Really?! Yes....

I am so thankful for that Sunday morning (The Sunday before the Tuesday that he passed away). Jesus gave me a peace that can only come from Him. As I sat alone in the chapel at Huntsville Women & Children's Hospital, I prayed for MY will to be done, for my baby to live. Then, He gently reminded me that all things are for His glory. At that moment, I humbled myself and prayed for His will to be done. I gave up my selfish desires and asked that He would comfort me no matter what He chose to do in my baby's life. Painful? Yes but so refreshing also. I knew that no matter what happened, My Jesus was in control!!

Because of that time spent in the chapel with my Father, although my son passed away, I never doubted that he was healed. As soon as I could pull myself together, my thoughts went to the fact that He did heal my baby. His promises are true. No it wasn't the healing that we wanted for him.. but He word is still valid... Bryson was healed. In heaven, he has no pains, no kidney problems, no sorrow. He is healed!

But then...........
As time has passed since that painful painful day, Jesus has yet again, gave me a new appreciation for His wounds. Yes His wounds have physically healed Bryson, so that his body doesn't hurt anymore... but more importantly, His wounds healed Bryson so that he could spend eternity with our Saviour! His wounds have healed you and I so that we can spend eternity with our Saviour! While a physical healing is awesome, miraculous and greatly appreciated, a spiritual healing is so much greater!

For years, I had focused this verse on the healing of our physical body. But His word doesn't stop there.

1 Peter 2:24-25 "He Himself bore our sins in His body of the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepard and Overseer of your souls. "  


Those wounds, those stripes - for a follower of Christ, mean that we never have to be separated from Jesus.
In our days on this earth, we are in the presence of God. He never leaves us or forsakes us. When we take our last breath, for eternity - forever and ever and ever - we get the privilege of being in the presence of an almighty God, and in addition to that, we get to spend it in a healthy body.

WOW! We serve an awesome God!!!