In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge says, "I don’t trust a man who hasn’t suffered; I don’t let a man get close to me who hasn’t faced his wound." The first time I read this it really hit me. Eldredge is at the top of my list of people to meet. I've actually met someone who is on a first name basis with him, and he's told me that if he gets him to come to Cleveland he'll introduce me. Eldredge has has had a huge impact on my life, and I've never even met him. When I first read this quote it hit me. I had wounds, but I hadn't dealt with them. I was afraid to deal with them. I felt like I had no credibility in what I said because I hadn't experienced much of anything. I just existed.
I was forced to face my wounds, life fell apart and it was continue to spiral until you hit rock bottom, or wake up and begin to deal with things on the way down. I'm grateful that things didn't get any worse than they did. Over the past few months as I've shared about my wounds, I found it difficult to write about some of them. Part of me realized the role I had played in them, how I had let them go on for so long, and it was difficult to look at how I could have prevented things if I had been willing to look at the wounds.
At the same time, healing is so freeing. In the process of healing, God had shown me who I am, and that identity has given me direction for the future. If I had pursued healing sooner, what would my life look like? How much other junk could have been avoided if I had only been willing to pull off the band-aids and let God go to work?
The wounds I've identified are the big ones that have come to my mind, the main ones that have had the biggest influences on me. Writing about them, really processing them for the first time, has shown me some other areas that I need to look at. I've realized that though the main work is done on these five major wounds I've identified, there is still some rehab that God needs to do. There are other cuts that need some attention, and there is still healing that needs to take place.
As I look to the future I've wondered about new wounds that may come. I know who I am in Christ, I have an identity, a God-given name that no one can take from me. No matter what life may throw at me, I know what God has said to me. This identity is my foundation, my shield. There are always going to be those who try to wound us, those who want to inflict pain on us for one reason or another. There will always be those who try and tear us down, but we have the ability to withstand their assaults and escape unscathed.
What voice do you listen to as you move forward? The world will always try to define you, it will try and keep you from healing, try to stunt your growth, and try to keep you from hearing from God. But God will speak, amid all the chaos and lies of the enemy, God's still small voice is clearly heard, and that is the voice that matters.
We have a choice on which voice we listen to. If we listen to the world, we will be constantly debilitated by the wounds they inflict. Those wounds will become infected, spreading throughout our whole being, and ultimately destroy us. But if we choose to listen to the voice of God, letting Him define us, not only do we find healing, but we become resilient against future wounds.
"From my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes." Psalm 118.5-9
You are not defined by the wounds you have received, you are defined by who God says you are. I know this is true because it is what I have lived out, and I'm in a better place now than I ever have been before. As I look at the future, with my new scars, I look at what God is going to do in and through my life. The future holds more healing, and a life free from the pain and infection of wounds.
I am defined by God, not the wounds I used to carry.
I am defined by God, and the future is bright and full of hope.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, October 12, 2018
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Lessons from My Healing
God is about healing and restoration. He makes a perfect world that humans screw up, and He immediately goes about the work of bringing about healing. The Old Testament tells the story of God's plan for the covenant that would culminate in the the death and resurrection of Jesus. The end of the Bible speaks of the future, when all things will be restored to what God originally intended. God is a god of healing and restoration.
The wounds you have are not who God intended you to be. He doesn't erase wounds from our past, but if we'll let Him, He will bring healing so they don't do any more harm. God loves to take wounds and turn them into scars because scars mean healing has taken place, and scars tell a great story (usually).
My own journey of healing has taught me a few things, and just like with my wounds, I want to share the lessons I've learned.
Healing doesn't happen by accident.
If we are going to find healing for our wounds, it has to be done intentionally. We have to begin by acknowledging that we have wounds, stop ignoring them hoping they'll go away because they won't, my doctor told me once, "Bad things don't go away." The only way to obtain healing is to go after it. For me, I intentionally revisited places where I had been wounded, and in doing this I discovered the real wound that needed to be healed. I had to write notes, make phone calls, I had to reach out to people and get vulnerable. Healing takes effort, and if we would experience healing, we must be willing to chase it.
Healing is accomplished by God.
We have to be intentional about pursuing healing, but we have to know that God is the one who brings healing. Genuine healing is not something that a counselor, a pastor, or a mentor can bring about (I'm not saying don't utilize these resources, I've personally used all three, sometimes all at the same time), but I am saying that these are all just people, and each of them has their own wounds. Healing is only found in God. He alone can deal with years, maybe decades, of ignored and infected pain, and bring about healing. If we would deal with our wounds, we must draw near to God.
Healing reveals who you were made to be.
It is through my own journey of healing that God has taught me who I am and why I'm here. It is through my healing that God has given me an identity and pointed me towards my destiny. The experiences of pain that I have had have served to show me what I care most about, the things that I'm passionate about, and they guide me to try and make a difference. Before I had encountered the healing power of God I feel like I just wandered aimlessly, hoping my wounds wouldn't be exposed, but once God had gone to work, I began to focus on what healing enabled me to do.
Healing gives credibility.
When a wound is healed it leaves a scar, and scars tell a story. Healing gives credibility because it shows you've been through some junk, maybe junk of your own causation but junk none the less. Scars show that you've not only been wounded, but that you've recovered, and the story of your scars is one that can impact lives. You can tell where you've been, tell what God did, and tell how you're different, and the scars prove your story is true.
Healing sets you free.
Wounds limit you. I've had physical wounds that kept me from competing while I was wrestling, and I've had spiritual wounds that have kept me from being fully effective in life. Wounds hold us back, but healing sets us free. When we experience healing we're free to live lives of passion. When you don't have to conceal a wound, your hands are free to do something great.
In John 5, Jesus asks a lame man who has spent every day for nearly four decades laying by the pool of Bethesda hoping for a miracle, "Do you wish to get well?" The question has an obvious answer, but Jesus gives people dignity, never forcing anything on them. Healing is offered, healing is possible, but healing must be accepted. Jesus came that we might have life, and life abundantly, life as God intended for it to be lived in the garden. That life cannot be lived by the walking wounded. If we would have life as God intended, we must enter it with scars, beautiful, story filled scars. Healing is possible, and healing will transform your life.
We all get wounded in this world, but we don't have to stay wounded. God offers healing, my own life testifies to this. Don't spend another day ignoring your wounds, allow God to begin to work, and see what His healing can do.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
The wounds you have are not who God intended you to be. He doesn't erase wounds from our past, but if we'll let Him, He will bring healing so they don't do any more harm. God loves to take wounds and turn them into scars because scars mean healing has taken place, and scars tell a great story (usually).
My own journey of healing has taught me a few things, and just like with my wounds, I want to share the lessons I've learned.
Healing doesn't happen by accident.
If we are going to find healing for our wounds, it has to be done intentionally. We have to begin by acknowledging that we have wounds, stop ignoring them hoping they'll go away because they won't, my doctor told me once, "Bad things don't go away." The only way to obtain healing is to go after it. For me, I intentionally revisited places where I had been wounded, and in doing this I discovered the real wound that needed to be healed. I had to write notes, make phone calls, I had to reach out to people and get vulnerable. Healing takes effort, and if we would experience healing, we must be willing to chase it.
Healing is accomplished by God.
We have to be intentional about pursuing healing, but we have to know that God is the one who brings healing. Genuine healing is not something that a counselor, a pastor, or a mentor can bring about (I'm not saying don't utilize these resources, I've personally used all three, sometimes all at the same time), but I am saying that these are all just people, and each of them has their own wounds. Healing is only found in God. He alone can deal with years, maybe decades, of ignored and infected pain, and bring about healing. If we would deal with our wounds, we must draw near to God.
Healing reveals who you were made to be.
It is through my own journey of healing that God has taught me who I am and why I'm here. It is through my healing that God has given me an identity and pointed me towards my destiny. The experiences of pain that I have had have served to show me what I care most about, the things that I'm passionate about, and they guide me to try and make a difference. Before I had encountered the healing power of God I feel like I just wandered aimlessly, hoping my wounds wouldn't be exposed, but once God had gone to work, I began to focus on what healing enabled me to do.
Healing gives credibility.
When a wound is healed it leaves a scar, and scars tell a story. Healing gives credibility because it shows you've been through some junk, maybe junk of your own causation but junk none the less. Scars show that you've not only been wounded, but that you've recovered, and the story of your scars is one that can impact lives. You can tell where you've been, tell what God did, and tell how you're different, and the scars prove your story is true.
Healing sets you free.
Wounds limit you. I've had physical wounds that kept me from competing while I was wrestling, and I've had spiritual wounds that have kept me from being fully effective in life. Wounds hold us back, but healing sets us free. When we experience healing we're free to live lives of passion. When you don't have to conceal a wound, your hands are free to do something great.
In John 5, Jesus asks a lame man who has spent every day for nearly four decades laying by the pool of Bethesda hoping for a miracle, "Do you wish to get well?" The question has an obvious answer, but Jesus gives people dignity, never forcing anything on them. Healing is offered, healing is possible, but healing must be accepted. Jesus came that we might have life, and life abundantly, life as God intended for it to be lived in the garden. That life cannot be lived by the walking wounded. If we would have life as God intended, we must enter it with scars, beautiful, story filled scars. Healing is possible, and healing will transform your life.
We all get wounded in this world, but we don't have to stay wounded. God offers healing, my own life testifies to this. Don't spend another day ignoring your wounds, allow God to begin to work, and see what His healing can do.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Monday, October 8, 2018
Lessons from My Wounds
We've all got wounds. No matter how much we hate them, try to ignore them, or even deny that they're there, we all carry a wound, and probably a few. For the past few years God has been working in my life, bringing wounds to my attention so that I can begin to deal with them. It's crucial that we do deal with them, because wounds impact our lives.
As I've been examining and sharing my experiences with the major wounds of my life, I've realized a few things about wounds, and I want to share these lessons.
Wounds impact the way we approach life.
My first wound was from wrestling, and it was this wound that made me begin to withdraw from and shut down. I had poured myself into something, gotten so close to the goal, but when I hit a setback I gave up. This would become the way I operated for years, I would limit my risks, playing it safe, when things got hard I'd stop fighting so I didn't get hurt again.
Wounds impact how we relate to others.
The wound I received from my first lead pastor role caused me to push people away. When I was attacked I wanted to avoid my attacker. I didn't want to confront the issue because it meant taking a beating, and I didn't do my job well because I was constantly stressed and frustrated over this one individual. This wound prevented me from pastoring as well as I could have.
Wounds are manipulated by the enemy.
The wound I carried from my time in Michigan went untreated for so long because the enemy got me to focus on the wrong issue. He took a scratch and made it seem like a bear mauling, when in reality the real wound had already been inflicted. When we get wounded, the enemy doesn't want us to find healing, and so he'll try to distract us by focusing our attention on false wounds.
Wounds can be self inflicted.
The wound I carried from my former mentor was a wound I let happen. I didn't want to address the issue, due to my other unhealed wounds, and so I simply made a wound out of an issue that never had to be one. Had I brought up the issue, it could have been an opportunity for healing to begin to take place, but instead I gave in to the tendencies I had grown accustomed to, and I inflicted a wound upon myself.
Wound keep us from God's best.
The wound from her has opened my eyes to what God has in store. Sometimes we see something good, but it isn't the best. We get wounded, and we get so hung up on what we feel we're missing out on that we begin to exist, not chasing passion because we're nursing a wound we don't want to let heal. When we are wounded, we can't operate to our fullest potential, and cannot be fully utilized by God.
Wounds, left unhealed, are defining, or rather debilitating. Wounds don't tell us who we are, they try to, but they don't define us because they aren't from God. Wound debilitate us, making us ill and weak, unable to discover our identity, recover our passion, pursue our destiny, or live in the community with others.
Wounds are tools of the enemy, but healing, scars, are from God. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10.10)
Wounds are part of life, but they aren't real life. We all have wounds, but let's refuse to live with them. Let's not let the enemy steal our identity, kill our passion, or destroy our destiny. Let us pursue healing and live abundantly within community.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
As I've been examining and sharing my experiences with the major wounds of my life, I've realized a few things about wounds, and I want to share these lessons.
Wounds impact the way we approach life.
My first wound was from wrestling, and it was this wound that made me begin to withdraw from and shut down. I had poured myself into something, gotten so close to the goal, but when I hit a setback I gave up. This would become the way I operated for years, I would limit my risks, playing it safe, when things got hard I'd stop fighting so I didn't get hurt again.
Wounds impact how we relate to others.
The wound I received from my first lead pastor role caused me to push people away. When I was attacked I wanted to avoid my attacker. I didn't want to confront the issue because it meant taking a beating, and I didn't do my job well because I was constantly stressed and frustrated over this one individual. This wound prevented me from pastoring as well as I could have.
Wounds are manipulated by the enemy.
The wound I carried from my time in Michigan went untreated for so long because the enemy got me to focus on the wrong issue. He took a scratch and made it seem like a bear mauling, when in reality the real wound had already been inflicted. When we get wounded, the enemy doesn't want us to find healing, and so he'll try to distract us by focusing our attention on false wounds.
Wounds can be self inflicted.
The wound I carried from my former mentor was a wound I let happen. I didn't want to address the issue, due to my other unhealed wounds, and so I simply made a wound out of an issue that never had to be one. Had I brought up the issue, it could have been an opportunity for healing to begin to take place, but instead I gave in to the tendencies I had grown accustomed to, and I inflicted a wound upon myself.
Wound keep us from God's best.
The wound from her has opened my eyes to what God has in store. Sometimes we see something good, but it isn't the best. We get wounded, and we get so hung up on what we feel we're missing out on that we begin to exist, not chasing passion because we're nursing a wound we don't want to let heal. When we are wounded, we can't operate to our fullest potential, and cannot be fully utilized by God.
Wounds, left unhealed, are defining, or rather debilitating. Wounds don't tell us who we are, they try to, but they don't define us because they aren't from God. Wound debilitate us, making us ill and weak, unable to discover our identity, recover our passion, pursue our destiny, or live in the community with others.
Wounds are tools of the enemy, but healing, scars, are from God. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10.10)
Wounds are part of life, but they aren't real life. We all have wounds, but let's refuse to live with them. Let's not let the enemy steal our identity, kill our passion, or destroy our destiny. Let us pursue healing and live abundantly within community.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)