What’s your story? How were you hurt and wounded in your soul? Were you rejected by someone you love? Abandoned by your spouse? Bullied by your peers in school?
We all go through hardship and experience pain in our lives. And we have a choice to make about how we will respond to it:
- “Settle” in it and let it determine the quality of life we have.
or
- Trust God to heal us and take steps of faith to go through the process of restoration.
Joyce endured years of horrific abuse at the hands of her father, and she was abandoned by her mother, who was too afraid of failure and other issues to rescue her. But somehow, when Joyce was able to choose the course of her life, she made a determined decision to trust God to restore her soul and refused to stay parked at the point of her pain.
And if you will choose to trust God completely and take steps of faith, one day at a time, you can move forward into the great life God has planned for you!
There are scriptures in God’s Word that assure us He wants to heal and restore our wounded souls…
For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!' — Jeremiah 30:17 (ESV)
Although my father and my mother have abandoned me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]. — Psalm 27:10 (AMP)
And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. — Acts 9:34 (ESV)
These verses reveal the truth about God’s heart for you:
- No matter what others may say about you or think of you, He loves you and wants to heal your wounds and care for you.
- Even if your parents reject you, you’re never alone or without family because God adopts you as His own child.
- God offers you healing today—NOW!
Just as Peter told Aeneas that Jesus healed him and he can get up and move on, you can also receive God’s love and healing power and begin moving forward now!
Spend some time in prayer and ask God to help you see and receive the truth in His Word. Meditate on the scriptures listed here and make them personal:
- Read Jeremiah 30:17 as if God is saying it directly to you…because it IS for you!
- Whether you had loving parents or not, think about what it means for God to adopt you as His own daughter.
- Pray for courage to do what you can to “get up” today. Maybe, like Aeneas, you can literally make your bed today…or declare out loud that God loves you and accepts you…or make a decision to forgive the one who hurt you…
Remember: You can make a decision to receive God’s love, healing, and restoration. You don’t have to stay parked at the point of your pain and let it ruin the rest of your life. Don’t settle—get everything God has for you!
