A special kind of hurt takes a special kind of healing <3

As we continue looking at deep healings, I think part of the issue is the source of the wounding.

I mentioned that there is a difference between pain we endure because of the consequences of our own poor choices. That kind of self-induced wound is clearer to work out with God.

There is also pain that comes from life-stuff – health and financial trials can be rough and need healing physically, emotionally and spiritually – but there is a kind of disassociation that comes with those things because we know deep down in our soul that these things are part of life on planet earth.

No, for this little series, I want to talk about the kind of soul-hurt that sidelines us because it came in a perfect storm of the following:

<3 It centers around people and relationships or some sort of a plan and the hopes and dreams that were planted but now have been uprooted leaving empty and damaged soil behind.

<3 It involves others and THEIR choices that have left a hole in our heart and our life.

<3 From the beginning, we either sought God or He seemingly dumped the person or the plan into our life and called us to get on board with the vision of a long-term relationship.

<3 We prayed our way into it, through it and around it.

<3 We opened up all that we are to receive what we thought was God’s direction.

<3 Somewhere along the route, we began to notice some red flags that things were going south and our prayers became desperate for God to move things back into alignment.

<3 And He didn’t.

Can you relate?

Did God send someone into your life to love and to accept and to make a large place for – or did He give you a vision of the future and the details are now  etched in your past and have carved out what you thought your future would be and now they are gone because of choices beyond your control?

It hurts and it makes you angry and sad and then angry again.

You rant and rave to God and you fall in a heap before Him.

You tell Him over and over this is EXACTLY why you were so careful with your heart to begin with and what you feared would happen has happened and now what?

And all of that is part of the process of healing.

All of it is necessary and vital to getting at what God would work in you as you move through the stages of grief and loss with Him. 

Our stories include other people who are affected by seasons such as this and I am so thankful that God’s Word provides examples of all the things you and I walk through in this world.

That is why I find we can follow the account of Saul and Samuel found in the Old Testament to help us on the journey to soul healing without sharing the intimate details of personal experiences.

Let’s start at the beginning of Samuel’s encounter with God that would bring a young man named Saul into his life.

Samuel, if you remember, was birthed out of the desperate prayers of his mother Hannah in the Temple in Shiloh.

Hannah is the barren wife of Elkanah, who was harassed by fertile second wife Peninnah.

The woman that Eli the priest thought was drunk as she blubbered out her prayers before the altar asking God to give her a child.

And she was the brave mommy who fulfilled her promise to God and took her little tyke back to that priest and left her son there to be raised in a less-than-perfect band of leadership because she entrusted her son to the God who heard her cries.

So begins the story of Samuel and the call God placed on his life – to serve from childhood in the ministry to God’s people.

Please take time to refresh yourself in the Word today by reading 1 Samuel 1-3.

As we look at what God would teach us about deep healing in the next few days, I hope you will put flesh and bones on the characters we will use to help us understand our own stories.

Real humans who understood real life and deep wounds.

Real humans who point us to our real God who really heals.

I look forward to this journey with you.

See you tomorrow <3