To read more in the series on Hope and Healing, click here.
God tells us He is the Great Physician and desires to heal us. Maybe not in the way we want it. Maybe not in our time frame. Maybe not this side of heaven. Yet, He is the great Physician. His business is to heal. And unlike a doctor who has a license to only "practice" medicine, our God knows exactly what He is doing.
This past April all within the span of thirty minutes, my oldest son was put to sleep, cut open and a part of him removed...his wisdom teeth. It would have been a very unpleasant experience without the drugs to keep him sedated and the pain medication for afterwards. So many times when we are first ripped apart we live in a fog. A God-given fog that insulates us as we come to grip with the fact that we are being ripped open. I am familiar with the fog. I went through it more than a year ago as I was cut open...not by a scalpel, but by angry words and toxic attitudes.
After the fog dissipates there comes the difficult task of healing. For my son to heal properly there were instructions for him to follow. Foods he could and couldn't eat. Activities he could and couldn't do. Emotional healing is very much the same. Follow the instructions and you heal better and faster. But what are those instructions? What does one do to heal? There are a plethora of things we can do to heal...here are the ones that I have found the most helpful as I spent more than a year processing so I could heal.
{Take it to God.} This is the first step to any problem we have. Healing is God's domain. He is the Wound Binder. The One that draws near to the brokenhearted. I found when I didn't go to God first each time I was going through another level of healing the process was all agony. Why go to a fake physician when you can have the One that makes all things new? {Isaiah 43:19}
{Journal.} Pour out your pain on paper. I couldn't really pour out my pain on the ones that had hurt. It would have been counterproductive and created more hurt, but the page has no feelings and isn't easily offended. The only way to heal is to hit it head on and that means getting out what is on the inside. Journaling can show you where you ache the most and can bring the pain to the surface so that it can be dealt with.
{Stay away from toxins.} As my son healed there were things that he wasn't allowed to ingest because they would have been detrimental to the process. The same is true for a person that needs to heal emotionally. Stay away from toxic people and situations until you are stronger. A toxic person can throw you right back into the pit if you are feeling emotionally weak. The same holds for toxic situations. Robert Frost once said, "Good fences make good neighbors." Good fences also produce healing. It is healthy to set boundaries to give yourself time to heal.
{Forgive.} If your hurt revolves around what another person did then the only way to heal is to forgive. Forgiveness simply means that you send that person to "Jesus Jail". Hand them over to the custody of Christ so that He can deal with them properly. He won't go overboard and punish them beyond what is just. He also won't let them get away with anything. Forgiving frees us. We don't have to be consumed with how to retaliate or seek revenge if we trust that God will set all things right.
{Be still and know.} To heal you slow down. God can't bind a wound while you are racing around. If you're a parent, do you remember trying to put a band-aid on a child that won't sit still? Nearly impossible. God asks us to be still. He then asks us to know that He is God. {Psalm 46:10} I have found over the past year that the being still and the knowing produce the healing. Still enough for Him to bandage the broken places. I am learning that I need to know that He is God and that my new life after being ripped is held together in His hands. He is God. He is Healer. I need to quiet my soul and leave Him in charge. Yes, life is different now, but He knows what He is doing. Healing comes when you let the Doctor do what He was meant to do.
It is my prayer that you find healing and that your relationship with Christ becomes stronger through the process.
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Two great books for the healing process:
Healing the Wounded Heart: Removing Obstacles to Intimacy with God
The Healing Journey
Both books have been instrumental in helping me heal. I absolutely LOVE The Healing Journey
. It is a more of a journal than a book. Each day you meditate on a Scripture and journal about it. The goal is to find healing through God's Word.
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