The Tender Touch of God

Once we have identified our problem and have stopped the bleeding, it is necessary to move to the next step of the healing process: dressing the wound. Above all, the wound must be dressed correctly so infection doesn't set in...

When doctors dress a wound, they apply medicines that stop the spread of germs. They apply a healing lotion to counteract infection and enhance the healing process.

Physicians dress a wound in different ways, depending upon the nature of the injury. A burn victim receives a different type of dressing than does someone who broke his arm. Gunshot wounds and stabbing wounds penetrate the body in different ways and so need to be dressed differently. Some people get a tetanus shot
as part of the physician's curative plan, while others do not.

Just as it is important for us to keep ourselves free of infection from wounds to the body, so is it imperative that we keep ourselves free of 'infection' from wounds to the soul...

I don't know what kind of healing regimen is required in your case. You may come from a family with a history of alcohol abuse; in fact, that may be your own problem. Listen: Your wound is not going to heal with alcohol. Some people think the bleeding can be stopped with alcohol, but it can't. I know--I tried, and it doesn't work. In fact, abuse of alcohol shows that you are still bleeding...

Or maybe that's not your wound at all. Maybe your wound was caused by a death in the family, a fractured relationship, the loss of a job, sexual abuse, or a personal failure. It doesn't matter what it is--the wound has to be dressed. And it has to be dressed the right way...

I have good news for you! God has warehouses full of miracles, in all shapes, sizes, and colors. He has one just for you. The real cure, the only certain cure, is to cry out to the Lord for help. Let Him give you the hope that you need; that is the cure. Yet you, too, have a part to play in your own healing...

Dressing the wounds of our soul can be even more painful than dressing physical wounds. But we can't let that stop us. We can't risk infection and bigger problems down the road...

'Dear Lord, please dress the wounds in my life, the self-inflicted ones as well as the ones inflicted by others. Give me the ability to forgive those in my past and those currently in my life, everyone who brought pain and hurt to me. Please reach out Your hand and not only heal me in Your timing and Your method, but also fill me with Your love to accept Your graciousness with thanksgiving. I reach out to You today; please accept my little faith. Stop my bleeding, dress my wound, and please, God, heal me.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Mike MacIntosh- "The Tender Touch of God" - Harvest House