I know a dear sister that has been seeking ways to heal her heart. “I don’t know how I got here in my life! I just want to feel good about myself every day!” All of us have this desire for ourselves, and we can probably relate to her frustration. She knows that she’s carrying heavy burdens, and they are robbing her of the happiness and self-esteem she wants, but after praying about it for many months, she doesn’t feel a solution has been made clear. She wants to know how to get past all the hurt and pain that she has gone through in her life.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, knows what we endure through this journey of life. He knows our suffering and how difficult life can be. Jesus wants and invites us to bring all our burdens to him, because he is our problem solver. In Matthew 11:28-30(NLT), he tells us, “28 Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” This passage is fundamental to our healing. Jesus Christ points out that there are some things we must surrender and let go, and there are also some things we must receive in their place.
When heartbreak, disappointment, and devastation occur, we are usually not injured physically, but emotionally. Emotions are not tangible. We can’t hold them in our hands, but we can feel them, and when someone or some situation is heartbreaking, emotions cause pain to our souls. None of this is visible to physical eyes. It happens on a soul level, where the heart abides, so we need medicine on another level to heal that pain. It is our responsibility and privilege to invite Jesus Christ into the deep places of our hearts and allow him to heal them.
The psalmist prayed to God in Psalm 139:23-24(ESV), “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” This is a prayer we must pray as well, and we must do so with the greatest amount of humility possible. When we ask God to search our hearts, we must be willing to consider that He may find us holding on to bitterness, anger, resentment, jealousy, pride, selfishness, or some other remnant of fear that is blocking us. He will search and He will then take action. So, if we are not willing to confront and acknowledge what He finds, we’re not as serious about the healing of our souls as we should be.
Many of us are seeking a greater truth, but there’s no greater truth than God’s Word, and the answers we seek can always be found there. God is not silent. He speaks, but the question is whether we are open and ready to hear what He says. We’ve made a mistake thinking that God can’t relate to what we’re going through. We’re not fulfilled or happy enough to say we’re satisfied with the way things are, and when this is where we are, our Heavenly Father will help us. If we invite Him, He will search our hearts and reveal through the Spirit that indwells us what the issue is. Through His amazing grace, He will also give us strategies to deal with our heart issue, but our problem is that we will not hear the Father. Many of us have refused to acknowledge that we’ve got deep seated anger and bitterness, but it’s in our hearts and through the Lord’s strength, we can let it go. We should make a commitment to do that, and then get full by feasting on God’s Word.
It really doesn’t matter how we got here. What matters is that we do as God says and renew our minds to His truth. 1John 5:4(ESV) says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So, yes, we’ve all got our loads to bear, but we must unburden our hearts through God’s instruction and direction. He tells us in Hebrews 12:1 to strip off every weight that slows us down. We’re to take off the old habit patterns and put on more of Christ. This requires us to change the way we think.
Many of us are living with heartbreak, anxiety, and fear as the underscore of our lives. They seem to always be lurking in the background, and we long to cut them loose. We crave peace and contentment, but we get up in the morning anticipating that something fearful is going to take place that day. This does not disqualify us as a person of faith. So, we must change our minds about some aspects of how we see ourselves and how we see God. Sometimes, this is necessary to open the floodgates of our hearts to God’s love. Practice the promises of His Word by feeding them to your mind and heart daily. Lean into what God is doing in you through His Holy Spirit and be as accepting of His healing as you have been of your pain.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“How Did I Get Here?” written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!