It hurts so bad

People or experiences can sometimes hurt us very deeply. The pain can run so deep that it feels impossible to uproot it. It seems hard to find hope and difficult to see the good in people. The idea of trusting someone is agonizing. The weight of all of this leaves us emotionally paralyzed. Yet we want to smile and be happy, we want to enjoy the sunshine and laugh in the rain. We see everyone around us living without forcing a smile as we find ourselves doing. We walk around pretending all is well when the reality is that we don’t know how to be happy anymore because the pain has been lodged so deeply within.

Day after day, month after month, and maybe year after year, we try to make ourselves believe we have gotten over whatever caused such pain. We try to clip away pieces of it by speaking positive affirmations and telling ourselves we have forgiven him/her or gotten over the experience. Yet trying to smile brings about a tear, memories are too heavy to carry, and facing each new day seems to be more of a burden than a joy.

If you are paralyzed in an emotional pain, please know there is a sure and perfect way to heal from the deeply rooted hurt. James 4:10 instructs us to humble ourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up, encourage you and help you. The Amplified Bible goes deeper – humble yourselves with an attitude of repentance and insignificance in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you, He will lift you up and He will give you purpose. Therefore, your healing is waiting for you at the place where you meet God. Spend a day at the well, in your prayer closest, in your secret place, or wherever you can go to spend quiet one-on-one time at the foot of Jesus. Go with a humble heart and ask for forgiveness for everything you have ever done that displeased God. You must be sincere in your asking. Then ask God to help you to forgive all who have hurt you. You must be willing to forgive all offenders and offenses. Yes, some hurts are so big that it requires God’s help for us to forgive others, but forgiveness is a must. Don’t beat yourself up when it seems difficult to forgive. It’s only a tactic of the enemy. He will keep replaying things in your thoughts to reopen those wounds and stir up enemy emotions in you. He doesn’t want you to forgive because he knows once you do, you become a source of encouragement for someone else. Know that your healing lies within your forgiveness of others and remind yourself of that every day. Keep asking and trusting God to help you forgive until you feel the weight lifting and you see your unforced smile. Allow God to take you into the time when you wake up refreshed and you actually hear the birds singing again. His love heals ALL.

But know this also. Sometimes rather than completely uprooted that deep hurt, God will plant flowers around it and allow that pain to become like a strong tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7,8). What I mean by that is, God will heal that hurt then turn around and use your hurtful experience to help people around you to heal. Those people are your flowers. As you share your story, they will be healed and will blossom. They will then share their stories with others to encourage the healing for many.

Humble yourself before God and know that He will help you. He gave us a promise in 1 Peter 5 that says we can cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us. He’s saying, ‘come talk with me about whatever is hurting you. I care about your pain, I care about your struggles, I care about whatever is preventing you from living the life that I planned for you before you were born. Just trust me enough to help you and I will take that thing and use it to elevate you. Then you will know WHY I allowed you to endure it.

#Humbleness #Sincerity #Forgiveness #ElevatedPurpose