The Highly respected General Naaman (2 Kings 5) was a leper. He was told that the prophet Elisha of Samaria could heal him. Naam traveled to where Elisha lived. Elisha sent out a servant with a message to Naam. The servant greeted Naam and told him to immerse himself 7 times in the muddy Jordan River. Naaman became infuriated. He refused to. He protested for an easy and quick restoration. No one had ever been healed of leprosy and instead of being grateful for a plan he rejected it.
“God's ways are not our ways. His ways transcend human reasoning, and we will not know why God chose certain things to happen the way they happened until we land in heaven. We come to believe that God wants us to be instantly healed, and sometimes we demand it, but that is usually not the case. God rarely provides an instant fix to our problems, because it does little to change our hearts or grow our characters. As a result, we either stay stuck in our difficult lives or finally decide to do things God's way -or we at least come to believe that our way may not be the best way.... There is evidence in Scripture that God sometimes offers a strange path toward healing that is easy to resist or reject outright."
(Arterburn, Stephen (2005). Healing is a Choice)
I was in Naam’s spot for a long time. I kept waiting for God to send a miracle to fix my problems. He kept giving me the answer and I refused to accept it. Finally He had to make a hard decision and knew that it would hurt. In order for me to heal I had to decide to get in the “dirty river”.
I didn't want to jump in the river because it would be a hard process. I didn’t want to take the time to heal especially when it meant I was going to be in pain, grieving, sad, and perhaps a lone. Yet, I have a lot of junk that I need to leave in the river. God wants to clean me.
I can easily get out of the river and to tell you the truth I've done it at least twice now. I kept refusing to follow God's plan so I could continue to follow my plan. I denied it but it just hurt more.
I believe I have begun the process. The first immersion consisted of prayer, seeking God’s promises in His Word, self-inventory, reaching out to others, asking for forgiveness, seeking profession help, and beginning medication.
I don’t know how long I will be in the river but I plan to endure it until God leads me out. I wanted to open this blog to invite others to help and keep me accountable to stay in this river and remind me to immerse in the river when needed.
