a bleeding rose

Yesterday afternoon I was in the gym of the Austin High praying before our 5 p.m. service.  It's been a long time since I have done that, and while Steve got ready to serve in Kidstuff with the puppets, I felt the Spirit nudge me to go in and just listen for His voice.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't just escaping the puppets.

I sat in the back row of chairs and asked God to give me a key of how to pray.  It wasn't long before He gave me the image of a bleeding rose.  He often gives me pictures to pray with, and I didn't know what this meant entirely but did feel certain it was about the body of Christ, not a symbol of Jesus.

This morning in prayer I asked for more revelation and believe He gave me some insight to pray with.

I believe the rose symbolized the Church, and the Lord was acknowledging our heartbreak with the blood.  I was moved to tears by the knowledge that He knows and cares deeply about our every hurt, our every wrong move, our self-condemnation, our strongholds, and the pervasiveness of sin that weaves through our lives.  Yet He was saying, "You are beautiful to me, a rose in my sight.  That's how I see you, beautiful. Nothing changes that."  

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  Hebrews 4:15-16