A few years ago I attended the funeral of the mother of a good friend of mine. As I expressed my condolences, he said, “It’s OK. I know where she is, and I know I will see her again.”
This stood in contrast to a patient who lost a parent and didn’t believe in God and told me, “I will never see my mother again.”
“We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, which enters the Inner Place behind the veil” (Heb. 6:19).
Step 6: Forgive and learn.
When injury or loss occurs from some wrong—either another’s or our own—healing requires that we forgive. Forgiveness is a powerful force that can release healing, even when the “oppressor” doesn’t change or when past failures remain past failures. You can’t rewrite history, but you can forgive. To bring about full healing, we must forgive others and forgive ourselves, and we must learn from experience.
Then as we stand our ground; as we pursue the truth; as we enlarge our perspectives; as we move on, pressing toward the mark; as we are hopeful; and as we forgive and learn from experience, we must follow the next step.
Step 7: Put God first and keep your focus on knowing Him.
Get to know God, His methods, principles and motives. Try to understand what He is trying to accomplish. Realize that He is working to heal all of us, and then, as His intelligent friend, join Him in His work. Seek to help others. Choose to follow Christ, who didn’t think equality with God was something to grasp, but humbled Himself in order to help us; who, when crucified, kept His focus on others: “Father, forgive them.”
Become a giver; engage in ministry; be of service to others; seek to use yourself, your energies, your resources, your talents and your education to benefit others. Take the focus off your injuries, your losses, your emptiness and your heartache, and seek to lift up others, heal others and minister to others as God directs you. In doing so, we move from victory to victory and are freed from fear and the domination of selfishness. We are freed to become real friends of God, revealing Him in our lives.
Have you ever been hurt? Has your heart ever been broken? Have you ever felt pain so real it felt like your insides were being ripped out? Sadness so deep you were sure you would never see the sunlight of happiness again?
I can tell you that whatever your heartache, whatever your pain, whatever your discouragement, it can be healed. No matter how bad the pain, don’t give up; no matter how dark the depression, don’t give in; no matter how high the hellish shadows of despair, don’t surrender.
But remember, if we put our lives in Christ’s hands, we can never be placed in a situation for which God has not made provision.
Whatever our situation, we have a divine helper to lead us to peace. Whatever our problems, we have the Counselor to comfort our hearts. Whatever our sorrow, difficulty or heartache, we have a sympathizing friend.
Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, president of the Tennessee Psychiatric Association, president-elect of the Southern Psychiatric Association and author of The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life. Dr. Jennings is in private practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His lectures and written material can be found at his website, comeandreason.com.
Watch Joyce Meyer teach on how to receive emotional healing at hearthealing.charismamag.com
