HEALING THE HURT

“God "heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3).At any point in the life cycle of a dream, but especially when it appears the dream is dead, we can be derailed by unresolved hurt, failure, or recurring sin.  Everyone gets hurt from time to time. One of the most important skills we can learn, and sadly, one that too few have mastered, is the ability to resolve those wounds so we can move beyond them.  It's not to minimize the severity of hurt as some pains experienced are of enormous magnitude.  “If we don't address these open wounds so they can heal, we take on the persona of a perpetual victim.  we've all been victims, but we don't have to remain victims.  We need to learn to grieve and forgive. Grieving is the natural process of admitting the reality of the pain, facing it squarely, and resolving the hurt.


We need to forgive the perpetrator.  We have the power and motivation to forgive only because Christ has forgiven us. We draw deeply from the well of His forgiveness, and only then can we express His forgiveness to those who hurt us.  Forgiveness sets us free from the prison of our bitterness.  Hurt is a very common experience, but it takes courage and insight to trust God, grieve, and forgive so those wounds don't ruin our lives.  We simply can't remain stuck with a victim mentality and fulfill God's dream for us. The two are mutually exclusive.
          
Some of us are haunted by past failures.  Some of us are perfectionists and believe that we should never ever experience failure.  When we don't learn from failure and we let it color our lives too starkly, we become ashamed. There is a big difference between guilt and shame. We feel guilt because we've done something bad, but we feel ashamed because we've concluded we are bad, unworthy people.  Guilt can be a very healthy response that leads us to repentance, but shame gnaws at us and leaves us feeling helpless, hopeless, and worthless. God sometimes allows failure to test us and give us a glimpse of what's in our hearts.  Our ability to respond positively to setbacks fuels our creativity and lays the foundation for future successes. If we wait for the ideal time to deal with dream busters of hurts, failures, or recurring sins, we might miss the best opportunity of our lives.

This weeks charge:  Refuse to have a victim mentality.  Don't allow past hurts to poison your thoughts, outlook or relationships.

Excerpt From: Clay, Doug. “Dreaming in 3D"