You don’t grow up until someone is more important than you. ~Jordan Peterson
I am a story. You are a Story. We are Stories. Our stories are written by God. (Psalms 139:16). Our stories evolve and grow⁰ from waters to rivers with many fires here and there. Sometimes a thunderbolt strikes and life is never the same. Earthquake occurs and shatters and breaks your heart to pieces.
It is in the awakening of our brokenness that we come to realize that we need Someone Bigger than ourself to deliver us from the enemy. God lifted me from ignorance, arrogance, bitterness, resentment and self-loathing. I found the meaning of the cross, the burial, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. That it’s not just a religious relic but the way I come to know myself. It is here we begin to write our stories with God.
The healing of our wounded heart begins by naming the wound. One of my deep wounds as a child was shame (because of physical abnormalities, not pretty enough, abandonment and rejections). These I carried into my adulthood. Shame is a friend of contempt. Contempt is a feeling that a thing or a person is beneath your concern, worthless deserving scorn (unconsciously) both to self and others. It’s such a strong survival mechanics of life it’s hard to recognize in us. Healing the shame first and contempt will flee from you.
To enter our stories we bring our hearts with us. Many can enter their Story without their hearts. They can say, “yes I was abused, I was shamed, I lost a parent, my husband was violent, I never knew my father, my mother was absent emotionally.” These are mere words without your heart. With your heart, words will taste like fire that burns or rocks and gravels in your mouth. You will feel the pain searing through your heart like serrated knife. This is what Jesus went through at the cross to pay for our sins. This is what coming to the cross is all about– to feel the pain in order to forgive others and ourselves. He died of pain and sorrow, all alone, carrying our guilt and shame. Growth requires dead to selfish self so we can find life in Him because resurrection will come. Your resurrection day will be a day of joy. It is through these pain and suffering in your life that you’ll find out that you were born for love relationship with God and people — JOY. The joy, that relationship with God will be your strength to be fully human and fully alive — your resurrection day. Your talents and your gifts are liberated. This is your ascension; you’re given wing to fly. You find peace and rest for your soul. This is the day of the favor (of the Lord)! Mark Twain calls this, the day you find out why you were born. It is that which clears the path and makes such progress possible. Otherwise we become all mouth and no heart.
Prayer for healing (the cross, resurrection, and ascension) is beautiful and indispensable in our journey toward maturity, toward wholeness. It also requires counseling and as Eugene Peterson said, “a long obedience in the same direction.” When we walk with Jesus Christ in our healing path, there is no pressure. You’re not alone.
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