Step into healing

WHEN WE have a wounded heart, the path to healing involves some deliberate steps. Time alone won’t heal us. The first crucial step is to forgive those who have wounded us. The second is to ask for God’s forgiveness for our wrong attitude. This may also be difficult for us, because often we can only see those who hurt us and not ourselves.

Although others have hurt us, we may have harboured unforgiveness and bitterness in our hearts. In our wounded state, these things fester in our hearts and create pain. They need to be removed. The only way to remove them is through God’s forgiveness.

Harbouring bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness and many of the negative emotions tied to our woundedness is sin. As Christians in particular, our hearts must be right before the Lord. We need to repent of these sins and renounce the ungodly attitudes we have had. We should then ask God to cleanse our hearts of all anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, hate, and revenge. For those who are not Christians, this is the right time to surrender your lives to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Jesus came to save us from our sins and heal our brokenness. Jesus is the only one who can save us from the power of sin which destroys everything it touches.

God will hear and answer us. He knows the troubled thoughts and feelings of anger, resentment and bitterness we are carrying, and why. God knows how deep the hurt goes, how long we have lived with it, and how it has affected our lives. He doesn’t want us to live our lives that way. As we ask God for forgiveness, we need to take the time to release our anger, resentment and bitterness and any other negative emotions (such as fear), that are there. Embrace God’s forgiveness, peace, joy and love instead.

Finally, we need to ask God to heal the hurts of our heart. He wants to heal us. “He (GOD) heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 (NIV). As God heals our hurts, He will also give us a tender heart that will be sensitive to the things that can damage our hearts again.

One of the greatest miracles is that the Holy Spirit can turn our hearts of stone (callused, hardened hearts) into hearts of flesh. Only the Holy Spirit can do this amazing work. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (NCV). God is in the business of helping us to think in a way that brings Him glory and refreshes our souls.

A heart of flesh is able to hear and enjoy life, and the Lord. A heart of flesh is able to perceive and understand things of God, and understand how to stay free of bitterness, unforgiveness and heaviness. A heart of flesh is able to love God and remember all He has done for us.

Release the pain, worry, feelings of rejection and abandonment, fear, and trauma you have experienced. Release every family issue and ask God to break the effects of them in your life. God says that He will “heal the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Don’t continue to allow your wounded heart to destroy you. Ask God to heal you, to bind up and heal every wound, and to fill you with the peace, love, joy and kindness that can only come from Him. God can give you a new heart.