I love Saint Raphael. He'd be in my top 5. Usually, when I bring his name up, people either think I'm talking about Gabriel or the great artist Raphael. Both are false. Clearly.
Let me explain a little bit about good ol' Ralph.
Saint Raphael came into my life about a year and half ago. I was going through some hard heart stuff, and this girl I barely knew gave me a little prayer book all about Archangel Raphael. I read it ferociously and it was as if I was being spoon fed every word from the mouth of God. It brought me such peace and joy. I immediately, knew Archangel Raphael had come into my life for a very specific reason.
Over the next few months, I could see him interceding for the healing of my heart. I could feel him guiding me and being a messenger of God in my daily life.
He helped me along many journeys and has shown me how to love like Love itself. I have felt his comfort and guidance in the past 9 months especially. He has become my friend.
Today, as I was driving through the city of Houston, on an undeniably perfect day, I looked up at the clear blue sky and I smiled...and not a smile I would normally just smile. I smiled because I knew that Archangel Raphael was guiding me on my journey. Today concludes a novena I've been praying. Looking back, the past 9 days have been so hard and I realized it today. Everything isn't "all better", but I have a renewed hope and trust in a God who loves me...so much so that he sends reminders of His love to me through the intercession of Archangel Raphael. He is a great "fixer of things", undoing the knots in my life so that I can love God and others better.
Take a few moments and read the Book of Tobit. I feel a lot like Sarah. I love Sarah. Her life sucked. She was picked on by people in her life. She had a broken heart....SEVEN times! A little extreme. She thought her life was over, she even wanted to end it at one point. She was at the end of her rope. Yet, she prayed. God heard her prayer and sent the Archangel Raphael to heal her and bring her the man he had set aside for her from the beginning. She had to suffer through a lot of heartache, and somehow she managed to keep praying, honestly and consistently. I'm sure she wanted to give up at times, and even when "Prince Charming" and Archangel Raphael did arrive, she was afraid to believe it. BUT, she followed the voice of God and did what she was told. She's a role model for me - faithfulness in the face of doubt and despair from her own heart and the voices of those around her. She inspires me to listen attentively to God's voice, even when it's a whisper...and in the times I can't hear him, to cling to what He has said.
Tobit is great too, he's Tobias' dad and Sarah's future father-in-law. They both pray at the same time and Raphael is sent to heal them both and bring Tobias and Sarah to each other in God's perfect timing. Click here to read the story.
Later on in the tale, once everyone is healed and married off and such, Raphael reveals to the people who he is. Click here to read that part of the story. You see, Raphael tells Tobit and Tobias to praise God in thanksgiving all the days of their lives. He tells me to do the same - to be grateful and gracious, centering my heart on God in all that I do. (I still pray with that Raphael prayer book every day.)
Yesterday, my question was "how do I love Jesus and put Him first?"
Raphael tells us how - pray, do what God tells you, and say thank you. It's as simple and as complicated as that.
Raphael is the messenger of God in the book of Tobit.
His name means "God Heals".
He is the patron of travelers, young people, lovers, happy meetings, joy, blind people, those with mental illness, doctors, healing, and even against nightmares.
He speaks truth that changes the heart of Tobias, casts our evil from Sarah to bring her healing, as well as heals the blindness of Tobit (a bird pooped in his eye).
Today, thank God for how He speaks to you and for the ways He has guided you. Know that at all times, He hears you. At all times, He is available. At all times, He is offering His healing love. Ask Archangel Raphael to be your guide, to cure the blindness in your life, to teach you to pray and to bring you the powerful healing love you need.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Again, I am inspired! What's the name of the book about Raphael? Thanks Becky Lynne!!
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