We all have trials but how do we react while we are in them? Paul said the trials of our faith are more precious than gold which is tried by fire unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1Pt 1:7). The trials that test our trust in God are precious in His eyes. It is not easy to confess faith in the unseen when we are faced with seemingly unbearable circumstances, but this is what pleases God. Our fleshly nature will always cling to the dust (the things that are natural) and will view life by what is seen, felt and heard. We easily are overwhelmed and outmatched by the enemy of our souls when we allow our minds to be gripped by fear and uncertainty. God says to think above and that is where our victory is (Col 3:2), His ways are higher than are own (Is 55:9). The victory that overcomes the world is our faith (1Jn 5:4).  

Most of last month, I was hit hard by pneumonia which has affected my breathing, energy and stamina. My ability to navigate my keyboard where I access study tools, keep up correspondences and post entries to my website required more focus than I could muster. During this time I have sought the Lord intensely about many things. In particular, the prognosis that I must consider having a tracheotomy to provide internal ventilation to help me breath. I ask Him to show me His glory, and clung to Him for a healing touch. The Lord impressed on my spirit to run to Him with my burdens and He would comfort me during this difficult time.

One night I cried out that I wanted to come to my heavenly home, away from this world. A gentle voice sounded in my spirit, “in my Fathers house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:2). I was immediately comforted and eager about being in my heavenly Fathers house. But my thoughts turned to my family and friends and to all those who I knew. I asked God to also bring them into His house. I lay awake for three hours considering the faces of everyone I knew, asking God to remember them and if they were not already, that they would find their salvation in Him. This brought me purpose and great joy as I thought of dear ones who include me in their prayers and have invested love and kindness to me and my family over the years. I thought of the Pastors and Church body members who have ministered Christ over the years. I thought of the ones that blessed me through something they said or did. I thought of the faces of the ones that were my neighbors or co-workers or employers and personal friends. I thought of the ones who I didn’t think knew God as Lord and Savior and asked Him to save them and to bring them into His everlasting home.

After these hours I had remained awake, I dozed off and dreamed that I was in a place with Jesus. He first asked me to remove my outer garment which I did. I then noticed I had a robe on, then Jesus asked me to open the robe; which I did. Then He touched my chest with light (I remember that His face was light and there was light coming out from his hand where He touched my chest). I felt like I was receiving a gift of healing light. The dream ended and I awoke, I began to meditate on the dream’s significance and the other events that had happened during this bout with pneumonia. I believe God was showing me in this dream (as He has confirmed throughout my illness) that he has given me a gift of healing and I am to continue to trust Him and wait on Him for a manifestation of deliverance, no matter how hard or how life-threatening my circumstance. He will use my fragile body to testify of His glory; regardless if I was sick or healthy. The Apostle Paul stated,

“For God, who said, ‘let there be light in the darkness’, has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (2 Cor 4:6-10 NLT)  

When we pass through valleys of weeping; God is with us and shines through us like a light on top of a dark hill redeeming our situation. He becomes a door of hope that we can pass through. He not only wants to deliver us from our pain but also wants to give us a ministry of hope to others that will be traveling down their own unique valley experience, desperate for the refreshing purpose of God.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Dreams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.