Lion of Judah

I am the lion of judah…hear me roar

I sat quietly listening to music recently… soaking in God’s love. In this space of quiet surrender and abiding I found myself talking with God about The Beautiful Exchange. As He again shared His heart for The Beautiful Exchange with me, I asked Him what He wanted me to share next. In that moment, I saw a memory. This is a special memory. A memory of a time when I came to God with a need and He met me in that space and brought His answer.

 My son was five. I don’t know about your five-year-olds, but my five-year-old was independent, strong, persistent, determined… to us as parents, this might sometimes feel like stubbornness. It might even be irritating and difficult at times. But, it’s also an “I can do it!” attitude. I regularly ask God to teach me how to train up my children in the way they should go. I ask God to show me them the way He sees them, now as children, but also as the men God has designed and purposed for them to be. I pray that God will continue to show me His plan and purpose for their lives. I pray that God will continue to give me His wisdom, and help me to partner with Him to raise my boys into all that God dreams for them.

As my boys grow into manhood, I pray this “I can do it” attitude will stand them in good stead and will grow in them to become a real confidence and unshakeable strength in God… a grit and tenacity to remain true to God’s word at work in their life. I pray that in their manhood they will continue to seek God’s wisdom and will for the abilities and talents that God has placed inside them. I pray that they will not depart from pursuing all that God has purposed for them (Proverbs 22:6). I pray that they will be known as innocent lovers of God because of His righteousness at work in their lives and they will have the confidence of a young ferocious lion (Proverbs 28:1). I pray they will live the full and satisfied lives God has intended for them to live (Psalm 91:16).

On this particular day, independence looked like a five-year-old making his own breakfast. This (of course!) required climbing the cupboard for cinnamon to sprinkle on top. I discovered said five-year-old’s activities when I came running in response to the loud crash. A crash that dropped him to the floor, broke the little glass container and cut his palm open. There was blood. There was broken glass. There was shock, pain and tears. There followed a trip to emergency. His cut was cleaned and glued. Surprisingly, it was all ridiculously easy and quick.

BUT. Days. Later. We had friends over in the evening. We took a peek at his palm. The wound was open and oozy and…hmmmm… it was a bit yuk! Our friend, who just happened to be a nurse, took a look and advised a trip back to emergency to have this now infected wound treated. Well… that changed up our evening!

 After everyone had gone and our other boys were asleep, I came to God to pray. I sat down on the floor with crayons and a sketch pad and I asked God to show me how He was at work. I know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). God did not cause the infection, but He would most certainly be at work through it.

In that moment, I heard God say that He was going to use this experience for my son to encounter Him as “I am the LORD who heals you”. In Exodus 15:26 God identified himself by this name to Israel. They had been enslaved in Egypt for generations, but now after so many years were walking into freedom. This is a significant moment for the Israelites. God had just miraculously saved them at the Red Sea and in response we see Moses and Miriam and all the people singing a song of victory and remembrance. They are shouting out what God has done in their lives. They are marking this day to be remembered in their history. They are singing together to celebrate the testimony of victory against their enemies.

Egypt forced the Israelites into slavery and slaughtered their newborn sons, lest they grow to become a mighty people and rise up in power against them. The people increasingly suffered harsh cruelties as Moses sought freedom on their behalf to worship their God in the wilderness. They were finally released to go and worship and in the process God freed them from political oppression and cultural bondage. Their culture of worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was restored and their national song was resurrected. In Exodus 15 we see them singing joyfully in gratitude to their God, who has brought them into freedom and they celebrate in anticipation of seeing and possessing the land that God had promised to their forefathers.

As God leads them, they come to a place called Mara, meaning bitter waters. So soon after celebrating their freedom and seeing God work a mighty miracle on their behalf, they are already complaining about having no water to drink. God again works on their behalf and ‘heals’ the bitter waters, making the water sweet for them to drink. At this place, God teaches the people how to live in His ways and promises that if they listen and keep His commands, they would be kept from Egypt’s diseases. They would know God as “I am the LORD who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).

I know that Jesus came to save us from the slavery of sin and death when He went to the cross. Like Israel we can now sing a new song of freedom. Like Israel, God’s sweet, living water can flow into our lives to satisfy our deepest thirsts. God’s promise of life and healing is available to us through Jesus’s death and His resurrection. The Bible says that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us and brings life to our physical bodies (Romans 8:11). As I came to pray, I knew that this day, my son would also know God as “I am the LORD who heals you”.

So… I set out to listen and pray what God would show me. As God showed me what He was doing I drew what I saw. I brought my son and his wound before God and saw that God was bringing His peace to my son in the emergency room. I saw him surrounded by peace. I saw his hand being held in that peace. I saw Holy Spirit come in the form of a dove to hover over him and protect him. As I drew, I also encountered the peace of God. I felt Holy Spirit draw near. In that space, I paused and pondered how the dove I had drawn might also represent an angel…

As I sat in this space of peace, I saw the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” rejoicing and roaring and singing over the wound. In Revelation 5:5, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is being celebrated, for He has triumphed in power and victory to win the battle. I knew that as the Lion of Judah roared He was marking out and claiming his territory. He was declaring to this enemy called infection that His power and victory reigned in this space. He had already won the battle over sickness. His triumph is our triumph. His life is our life.

The Lion of Judah was singing His song and He invited me to join Him in singing this song of freedom and victory and healing over my son. I took the prayer picture I had drawn and propped it up on the music stand on my piano:

I began to play the ‘music’ in front of me… I played the sound of the Lion roaring. It was deep and guttural. It was strong. It was powerful. It was His might. As I played I saw the Lion. I saw Him sing. I saw him roar. I felt the roaring song resonating out and out and out… It was stunning…

And. Then. I heard the song change. It was lighter. It was sweet. It was life.

And. I. Saw. The Dove come.

His peace invaded. And I saw that there were also angels, like I had suspected. I saw them come. I saw my son in the emergency room, waiting to be seen by the doctor. I saw ministering angels descend from heaven. They came right to my son. I saw them take his hand. I saw them tend his wound. It was gentle. It was sweet. It was beautiful. And then they were gone. I heard victory. I heard triumph. I responded with my own song of worship and praise for this God, who knows me and knows my need. This God, who loves my son so much. This God, who would come in this way and meet with my son as his Healer. I was undone. How could I not worship in response?

A short time later, I heard the car. They were home. As they came inside, I asked what the doctors had done. I was surprised when my husband said the doctor had not treated my son’s wound at all. He had looked and said that everything was all fine. Huh? When they left for the hospital, the wound was clearly infected. It was clearly an open, gaping, weeping, inflamed mess. I asked to see the wound again. When I looked… it had changed. I was not looking at the same wound. I could see the cut had been re-glued back together, there was even excess glue on his palm and it was no longer acutely inflamed. I should not have been surprised! I had seen the angels come and minister to his hand before the doctor assessed the wound. Why was I surprised that it had actually happened!

The next morning my son asked for a piece of paper because he needed to draw something. As he drew, he explained what he was drawing. In the night, he said he had seen Jesus. He saw Jesus come through a bright hole that opened in the sky. Jesus came to stand with him. My son told me, “With one hand, Jesus is holding onto a tree with leaves and with the other hand, He is holding my hurt hand.” As I watched him draw and listened to him explain, I knew that he had seen the Tree of Life with leaves for the healing of the nations, as referred to in Revelation 22:2. Jesus was holding the Tree of Life and my son’s hand and was releasing His healing into the wound. There was something else my son had drawn in the top corner. When I asked him about it he said, “It’s a ghost!”. I looked at him and he said, “It’s the Holy Ghost!”. He had also seen the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, who brings life to our bodies!

The wound healed rapidly after that. We talked about how he might not even have a scar. My son looked at me and said, “I’m happy to have a scar. It will remind me of what Jesus did for me. My hand will have a scar… just like Jesus has a scar on his hand. It will remind me that Jesus was nailed to a cross for me”.

And. You. Know. What?

It’s now years later, but he still holds his palm out to look for his scar to remember what Jesus did.  

It makes me think about my scars.

I have more than my share of physical scars, where wounds have been stitched and healed. But today I’m remembering the scars of other wounds. Wounds that have cut into my heart. Some deep gashes. Some not so much. Some now faded and gone.

But. Today. I. Remember.

I remember how God has healed my wounds. He has brought life to the wounds that opened up spaces that left me feeling hopeless and lifeless. He has not only healed those wounds, but within those gaping holes He planted seeds. His seeds of hope. His seeds that are growing into His Tree of Life. And on the Tree of Life there are leaves of healing and fruit is growing.

As I share my story of how God has healed my wounds, I know that God’s healing and fruitfulness becomes available for others to receive. Knowing this, I stop. I commit again. I surrender my story to God for His glory. In this moment, I hear a door open. I get up to investigate. Sure enough, the door to my garage has just popped open (it sometimes scares me when that happens!) BUT… God has my attention. He is making Himself known in this moment. God says to me that He will open the right doors at the right time. He will continue to show me who and what and when and where to share. We can trust Him with our stories. I know that when we share our stories, as Jesus asks us to, our stories will be a blessing to others and will open doors for Jesus to come in.

And. so. here. in. this. space…

I am ready to share my story with you.

But. This is not just my story. My story is intertwined with my son’s story. In order to share this story with you, I must honour my son and his story. Together, my son and I… we read our story. We share this memory together. We look at the picture that he drew of His encounter and we remember. We talk. We connect. I tell him I will not share our story until God said it is time. We talk about how we share our stories with those whom God says to share. We share what God says to share. We share when God says to share. We share where God says to share.

He says to me, “And what happens if God never tells me to share this story here at The Beautiful Exchange?” I look at him and I say, “Then… it will never be shared in that space.” It will be a story that we remember together. It will be a shout out to what God has done in our life. It will remain as a family story that marks this day to be remembered in our history. We will sing together to celebrate the testimony of victory against infection and illness. And so we went back to our day. But as we did, we listened to the music of the Lion of Judah. I got teary, encountering God again. When the music finished, my son presented me with a written note. It said, “God said to put your thingy on the B.E.”

And. so. today. here. in. this. space…

More than. one. week. since. writing. this. thingy.

We thank God again for His love and His healing and His victory and together we press the button to publish.

We open our hearts to you. We share our story with you.

The door of encounter is open. Will you come with us?

The Lion of Judah is roaring. The song of love and healing and victory that He sang over my son is now here in this space ready to be sung over you… raw and unadulterated… God is excitedly waiting for us to step into His songs of promise…