Healing by Helping

I have never really understood how healing happens. In my desperate attempt to become whole I have struggled to find the magic formula for healing a broken heart. Is it time? Is that what heals? Is it forgiveness? I am sure letting the hurt go is part of the process. Is it God and His mysterious ways? Is it bringing the pain to the surface and dealing with it? I have failed in my attempts to understand the inner workings of emotional healing.

Maybe because healing is a puzzle that needs God, time, forgiveness, and so much more to overcome our broken pieces.

Reading through Isaiah awhile back I came across another aspect of healing: helping others.

Take a moment and read in its entirety Isaiah 58. Notice when you get to verse eight God talks about "your healing". And what does it require to heal? Here are some of what is mentioned in the chapter:

• Loose the chains of injustice
• Break others free from bondage
• Share your food with the hungry
• Provide for the poor
• Clothe the naked
• Get rid of the pointing finger and malicious talk

Every single one of these actions is about other people. Healing comes about when we sacrifice for others! For me, this is huge and scary. You see, since the breaking of my heart I have struggled with reaching out to others and serving them simply because I was so rejected by those I was helping and serving. The irony? God is asking me to do the very thing that lead to my emotional wounds. He is asking me to step out of myself and step into others' lives.

Wounded people tend to be self-absorbed. I know I have been. How about you? No one can heal themselves by bandaging their own wounds. Our healing comes when we bandage the wounds of others. Can we step out and love others? Can we care for their needs? Can we care for them? Maybe the last piece to the puzzle is the one in which we take our broken selves and insert them into the lives of others.

 Want to read more about Hope and Healing? Check out my 31 Days series.