Among the bravest people on the planet are those willing to to be released from the pain of the past. Little children get bumps and bruises as a matter of learning about the environments surrounding them. In the same way, everyone gets emotional wounds by the mere act of living. No one is exempt. Even those raised in stable, loving homes collect scars. Anguish can range from getting the smallest portion of dessert when you were 4, to being abused over an expansive time frame.
The issue of pain is not necessarily the circumstances themselves. The abuse stopped twenty years ago. The perpetrators are dead. The lies slyly slipped inside of the misery that caused the problems. Untruths like, “You deserve it. You are worthless. No one loves you.” Those deceptions sit there and fester, like mold in a petridish. The lies morph in numerous ways. They manifest through outlets; addictions, hangups, insecurities, fears, rationalizations, skewed outlooks. Hurting people, hurt people. Broken people, break people.
We might fool ourselves into believing, “I’m OK.” Deep in our souls sits that deception inside that emotional wound. It motivates us. It shapes us. We have taken great strides to carefully tiptoe around it. We wall it in. We are not fine.
There is an antidote named wholeness. Wholeness of body, mind and soul. The pain of the past can be dealt with, healed, obliterated. The process can produce “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” Isa 61:2. There are many treasures strewn along broken paths. The question is, are we tired of the pain continuing to harm us? Will we invest the time and effort necessary to be secure and happy from the inside out?
I was with my counselor trying to get empathy by listing grievances recently suffered. Her response was shocking and profound, “Why did that effect you? Deborah, you have dealt with all this and you have forgiven, so why did those unkind words land? Why is there a shelf inside you that collects that stuff?” I was disturbed and blown away by that response. She did not care what had been said or done to me. Her focus was that I allowed it to hurt me because of bruises from my childhood were activated as a type of catchers mitt. I was challenged. Challenged to my core. More prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit and the root of that shelf was discovered and dismantled. Amazing! Freeing! Powerful!
It is my hope that wholeness becomes a national pursuit. May everyone get a taste of getting emotionally transformed. The baggage we tote in 2017 does not have to arrive in 2018. He whom the Lord has set free is free indeed! Don’t let shame, or anything else, stop you. You are The King’s kid. Inner peace and abundant joy are your inheritance. Your emotional home can be free, just be brave.
Broken but Beautiful 