“I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silent hurt more.”
C. S. Lewis
So much of my life has centered around trying to avoid pain. I’ve swept painful emotions and memories under the rug of my heart in hopes of avoiding hurt. It’s an illusion that the pain will disappear, never to be found under that rug again. It’s still there in our hearts and it’s not until we face our hurt and deal with our pain, that it disappears and loses control over our emotions.
We often live in the past or the future, to avoid, deny, or ignore our pain, but that doesn’t resolve it. Hurt won’t simply go away; it must be dealt with. One of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves is to face our hurt. Being present, feeling the painful emotions, embracing our brokenness, inadequacy, and vulnerability is the way toward healing. Instead of running away from your pain, run headlong into it, the place where true freedom is found.
We can help our pain dissolve by using God’s tools for emotional healing. If we’re feeling guilt or conviction because of our sin, then the tools of confession and repentance and receiving God’s forgiveness free us from that pain. If there has been loss, disappointment, and unmet expectations, then using God’s instrument of grieving will bring relief from that wound. When we’ve been offended by others, God’s gift of forgiveness releases us from being controlled by that hurt. Pouring our hearts out to the Lord and giving Him thanks in the midst of our emotional pain are other scripts the Great Physician, Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, prescribes as treatments to heal our hearts.
One way we can receive the courage to face our pain is by knowing that God is with us in the pain. I’ve often said, “I can go through hard things if I know I’m not alone.” One of the beauties of placing a loved one in hospice is not having to walk alone through “the valley of the shadow of death.” God sits with us in our brokenness. Psalm 34:18 promises us that “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Give yourself the gifts of emotional wholeness and freedom by facing your pain today.
“There is no emotion God can’t handle, and there is no hurt beyond His healing.”
Amy Carroll
Relevant Reflections:
1. What painful emotional hurt or memory keeps popping up, trying to rob, kill, or destroy you?
2. Which of God’s instruments from His emotional healing toolbox, do you need to apply to that hurt today?