An Open Heart Heals

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”
― Erma Bombeck

     When your body is covered with open wounds, becoming a healthy person seems so far to go.  I've heard the term "Healthy People" so many times in the last months I could puke.  Healthy seemed so far away to me that I had to ask myself if it was worth the journey.  What I have come to realize is that "Healthy People" are not necessarily completely healed, but it's how they handle the wounds that makes them healthy. 

     The first thing we do upon arriving at a hospital is tell them where it hurts.  Confessing the pain is always the first step.  Whether the pain was inflicted on you by another or yourself acknowledgement of the wound has to happen before it can be addressed.  We wouldn't  walk into a hospital and say, "I'm fine" and hide the gash on our arm.  Shoot, the blood leaking through our shirt sleeve would give it away.  You can't hide a wound forever, it will fester.  

     We would think someone had real issues if they sat and picked at an open wound or spent 30 years pointing a finger at the person who cut them, screaming, "It was him.  It was him who hurt me."  So many people do this with wounds of the heart.  Instead of cleaning it out or setting what is broken, they point fingers, try to hide, or deny the wound exists.  Another thing is to focus on other peoples wounds.  "He has been walking around bleeding like a stuck pig for years."  Ignoring the blood dripping from their own arm.  This is the work of the enemy.  He wants us to keep our wounds hidden to fester.  He convinces us that speaking out will destroy us.  

     In the last three weeks since I first told my story I have heard confessions of some very deep wounds inflicted by others and self inflicted.  I have heard people share very dark thoughts and fears.  I myself just recently shared what I consider to be my darkest secret.  The Lord  has told me clearly that these are desperate times and they call for desperate measures.  He has informed me that His plan for me consists of exposing truths that most skim over if they address them at all.  There is a lot of fear in exposing the dark secrets of our minds.  Why are we so arrogant as to think that we are different.  Why do we believe that we are the only ones who suffer from certain pains and horrors?  There are too many people on this planet to think that any individual has experienced something no one else has.  Since I shared my secret I have been almost embarrassed to think that I felt unique or different.

     The enemy only has so many tricks up his sleeve.  He attacks us all with a limited number of weapons.  So there are only so many wounds we can suffer from.  God is abundant and the devil is on a budget.  (Graham Cooke)  There is power in sharing a common hurt.  Just listen to a group of alcoholics once, they all share one basic story.  They love alcohol, they drank too much, they lost things that meant the world to them.  The difference is, some are recovering and some are not.  

     Denial is our biggest enemy.  Secrecy is second.  When a secret is shared, the only person who will judge is the one who thinks they are completely healthy, completely have it together.  We are not complete until our Father we meet.

“I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside.” 

― W. Paul Young, The Shack