Hope for Healing ~ Part 1

I know that right now there are a lot of hurting people. So much has been coming out over the last week, and every time a new story breaks it has the potential to re-open old wounds from others who have also been victimized.  I just want to tell you that there is hope for full and complete healing!!! Yes, scars will always be there as a reminder of what we went through, but there is healing from the intense pain!

Let me begin by saying that healing is a process. It won't happen overnight. Broken bones don't heal overnight and neither do intense emotional traumas. Healing is a process, and while there are many steps involved in the process, and the process can be painful the healing is so very worth it! (I'm speaking from experience!) I'm going to just touch on a couple things today, but there is more to come.

First, please know you are worth the hard work it will take! You are precious, treasured, loved, and valued beyond measure!!! I know that it is easy to feel like you are a piece of garbage, or completely worthless when you have been abused, but please put that lie out of your mind! You are valued (Matthew 6:26), you are loved with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), you are held in God's hand no matter where you go (Psalm 139:9-10). Stop telling yourself that you aren't worth it and know that God says you are, and there are many others who would say the same thing (myself included)!

Next, please know it will take work on your part. I think a good place to start is to either find someone who is safe who you can tell your story to, or write it down. Somehow getting it out instead of leaving it trapped inside of you can go a long way towards starting the healing process. Know that there are stages of grief that you will have to work through along your journey of healing (this is NORMAL)! Emotions are a good thing not a bad thing as so many of us were taught. There will be some days and even weeks that are better than others. As long as you are making progress along the way this is ok!

A big part of the healing process is changing how you think. What you choose to focus on determines who you become. Many of us were taught things that aren't true and were even told that the abuse was our fault or that we somehow provoked it. I just can't emphasize strongly enough that abuse is NEVER the fault of the victim! Please do not blame yourself! Be willing to seek outside help! Counseling can be a good and healthy thing! Changing how you think can be so difficult, but it can be a critical part of healing especially when you have been taught to believe things that aren't true.

I will write more about healing soon, but I'd like to end the post with a song that has been an encouragement to me along my journey of healing!