While there is much pain and sometimes agony in healing from something physical, healing from an emotional hurt can be a long and agonizing process. When you are diagnosed with some physical ailment you begin to mentally prepare yourself for the road to recovery wherever it may lead. But, how do you recover when you feel utterly crushed and your heart aches?
Emotional pain is not something you ever see coming. It overtakes you suddenly and violently and pulls you into a vicious storm of emotions. You wonder how you allowed yourself to get into such a vulnerable state. The hurt becomes a personal battle you stumble through without seeing your way out. People try to help through encouraging words, but nothing seems to touch that area deep down in the core of your emotional storm. If you tried, you wouldn’t be able to verbalize any words that could even come close to explaining your devastation.
If you have ever been hurt – who am I kidding, we have all been hurt – it’s a part of being a human being and living in this world. When you have been hurt, you realize that it’s a feeling you carry with you for a very long time. The pain dulls with time, but it is always there, giving you a subtle reminder that it can stop by for a visit at any time. That deep dark pit leaves a small opening for you to slide into at anytime you want to feel sorry for yourself.
With all those heavy emotions that come with hurt, how do we get to the healing process? Going back to the physical as an example, if you had to experience surgery to cure a physical condition you will have to also go through an emotional surgery to help your hurt. If a doctor told you that you needed surgery, but then said, “let’s just put a band-aid on it and see if it heals,” you would quickly get another doctor. Unfortunately, often when we are experiencing emotional hurt, we try to band-aid it. Then, we wait for it to heal and wonder why it never does. Others may also put band-aids on for us with words like, “you should be over that by now.” You can’t “move on” from something when you don’t take the time to recover from the emotions that accompany the devastating event.
Job is an example of one who experienced a devastating blow. He took the time to reflect on his grief and then turned to the Lord with it. Emotional surgery is not painless, and unlike physical surgery, there is no anesthesia used. The only way you can heal from it is by not denying the pain, but instead going through the pain. Take time to talk about it with someone you trust (you may need to do it more than once). Take it to the Lord and allow Him to perform the surgery. He has never lost a patient.
Healing is a process. It can be long and difficult at times. Healing means to alleviate or to ease. This means that the pain may not ever totally go away, but you will experience relief from the hurt. You will be able to see the light again and feel a purpose for life. There is a road to healing and it starts with the Lord. He will set you on the right path to recovery. This month we are praying for those who are in need of healing whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual. We pray that the Lord guides you through that painful journey and sustains you.