An email friend sent me the entire text of Streams in the Desert’s devotional entitled “Giants.”

One excerpt particularly resonated with me, my healing journey, and the journey of healing of others. Mrs. Charles Cowman writes:

“The reason so many fail in this experience of divine healing is because they expect to have it all without a struggle, and when the conflict comes and the battle wages long, they become discouraged and surrender. God has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that God had to give, and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character, and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the birth travail of a new life.”

I can honestly say the difference between someone who’s dared to walk through healing and one who shrinks back afraid is this: one had grit; the other gave up. You have to want to be well. You have to want to push through. You have to be so sick of your own bad behavior that resulted from your past pain that you run to Jesus seeking help. It’s not enough to casually want to get well. You have to yearn.

And if you can’t endure all the stress it takes to walk through healing for your own sake, do it for your loved ones. The best gift you can give others is your healing. Your walled off heart is no good to your children, your spouse, your friends. Your bitterness hurts every current relationship you have. If you can’t seem to want health just for you, chase after it for them.

How do you heal? Here are some thoughts.

1. Acknowledge what happened. Hidden secrets never heal.
2. Share your story with a trusted friend.
3. Grieve. It’s okay to say that what happened back there hurt like the dickens. If you don’t grieve now, you’ll have to revisit the grief again.
4. Ask others to pray for you if you get stuck.
5. Consider counseling.
6. Journal your journey.
7. Seek a mentor in someone that’s experienced the same kind of pain you’ve been through.
8. Let go of your status as a victim. Staying in that place will forever tether you to the past. You are no longer a victim. You are wildly loved by God. You are an overcomer.
9. Find scripture that relates to your struggle. Write it down. Put it on your mirror, in your car, wherever you frequent. Memorize it.
10. On really bad days, crank up the worship music and sing praises to the One who took on all sorts of abuse.
11. Move beyond your pain to help someone else.

Mind if I pray for you now?

Jesus, we need to heal. We need Your help. We can’t heal on our own. The pain is too much sometimes. But we want to heal for the sake of our own health and the people in our lives. Take us down the path of healing, gently though. Do something new. Create joy where pain lived. Inaugurate hope where despair camped. Rejuvenate resilience where lethargy reigned. Heal, Jesus. Please heal. Amen.