"All suffering has meaning in My Kingdom."
~ From today's reading in Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young
Wounds. Those hurts in our lives. The ones that are fresh and bleeding, and the scars from the past that are hard to forget. New or old, they dig holes into our hearts. Empty and gaping, yearning for healing wholeness. Desperately crying out for tending. Help. Change. Someone. Someone who can take away the pain.
That was me. Not long ago, either. I had searched for years, you see...to no avail. I was baffled. I couldn't see what the problem really was, why it kept coming back, and how in the world I could ever find help -- if that help even existed.
Then one day it dawned on me:
I have been seeking for wholeness in all the wrong places. In people (approval, attention, emotional fulfillment); in work (performance, perfectionism, success, mistaking busyness with completeness); in study (achievement, so-called knowledge); and also within myself (my self-worth, experience, understanding, well-being, and perhaps especially the need to control).
The depression that's so often connected with these searchings almost speaks for itself. It's rooted in a deeper spiritual conviction that what is sought will never be found, at least not where I'm looking. Instead, there is only mourning, even despair, knowing that what I need or desire just cannot, will not, be satisfied. Feelings connected with shame and fear...fear of my own feelings and needs, shame at my desires and my self-driven, ill-guided seeking.
Wholeness, I'm learning, is not to be found simply for the taking, for the self-satisfaction of consumption, the fulfillment of my needs and wants. It is the gift of God, bestown in love and received in humility...all for the glory of the Giver.
Thankfully, there is Someone Who can take away the pain.
In fact, He already did -- two thousand years ago at a place called Calvary. He knows our wounds...because He, too, suffered:
"He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men,
a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness...
"Surely He has borne our griefs, sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses
and carried our sorrows and pains of punishment,
yet we ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God
as if with leprosy.
"But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities;
the chastisement needful to obtain peace and well-being for us
was upon Him,
and with the stripes that wounded Him
we are healed and made whole."
Through His very suffering, Jesus Christ -- the Wounded Healer -- was "perfectly equipped" and became "the Author and Source of eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5:8-9).
My friend, nothing is impossible for our great God...
Amen.
My friend, nothing is impossible for our great God...
Amen.
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| Healed By His Wounds |
Hi "In the Hands of the Healer", I've come over from the Soli Deo Gloria party where I'm your neighbor and I so hear your pain. Approval and Performance led me deep down the path of anxiety and depression as I was trying to find my identity in the eyes of other people. Here's my own story of healing if you are interested:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.athirstforgod.com/where-my-story-is-challenged-by-truth/
This is my favorite line in this post: Thankfully, there is Someone Who can take away the pain.
And you are so right. Wholeness is pure gift although I'm afraid it is a gift we will not fully enjoy until we are perfected in heaven. Until then, we just hold up our broken pieces over and over asking for healing.
Thanks for dropping in, Summer! Like your name, your words are like a warm sunny day -- very appreciated this cloudy fall morning. :-)
Delete"Approval" and "Performance": yes, what strong players these are in depression and anxiety. Again I'm reminded (thanks!) of Jen's post over at SDG and think I'll follow her example and plug these words (and the others I list above) into Prov. 7 and watch those masks fall away! It certainly worked when I filled in the blanks with "depression." http://www.findingheaventoday.com/2013/10/the-lady-in-red-and-soli-deo-gloria.html
As we hope for the wholeness of Heaven, let's keep "holding up our broken pieces over and over asking for healing." Loved that observation of yours.
And thanks so much for the link to your site!
Have a blessed day, sister.
Thank you for your raw emotions and truth that healing is found in Jesus. I have learned so much about depression having lived with someone for years who suffered from it. God has been teaching me through people like you, His Word and experience, how devastating this disease can be for all involved. I pray that all affected will someday know the healing power of Jesus. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by tonight, my fellow Grace-journeyer!
DeleteYour words are a real encouragement to me this evening, and I appreciate them. You know, it still surprises me how little understood and openly discussed depression is to this day, given how pervasive and destructive this illness is. I'm also continuing to find quite a disconnect between the mental health profession and the Christian community, but I remain hopeful and am ever grateful to the rare few who bridge the gap!
One thing is clear and unchanging: it is Jesus Who does -- and did! -- the healing. He has the scars to prove it!
Blessings to you, my friend... :-)