Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.”
An important aspect of the healing of the soul is finding the courage to move beyond our pain. We may not be able to avoid all the hurts we face in life, but we can decide that we will not let them keep us from moving ahead. Sometimes when we are very wounded, we are tempted for various reasons to stay stuck in the pain, even though we can see that life is moving forward all around us. We can join in and go with what is happening, or we can stay behind, stuck in bitterness, resentment, hard-heartedness, and pain.
There are many reasons why people stay stuck in their pain. Maybe the “wounded person” has become their identity, and they even use it to get attention. Maybe they fear they will fail if they try to do something new. Maybe they do not feel strong enough to move forward. Or maybe their self-image has been damaged to the point that they have no confidence in themselves and no confidence that God will take care of them if they move into something new.
We can always choose to stay in our pain, but that will not lead to the good things God has for us. Jesus died to give us a life of abundance, but we can choose whether to embrace it or not. If we want what He has, we have to make the choice to move beyond our pain and risk following Him.
I once saw a movie about a very talented woman who suffered such deep wounds in her soul that she completely withdrew from life and from other people. After a stay in a mental health facility, she literally parked her van in someone’s driveway and lived in it for the rest of her life. The movie was a powerful picture of what can happen to people who either don’t know how to or will not deal with their pain, leave the past behind, and move ahead.
God will never park us in our pain and leave us there, and I hope we never allow ourselves to park in it either. He is always calling us forward. He never leaves us alone to figure out on our own how to move ahead. He makes the path clear to us and leads us, as Isaiah 48:17 says, in the way that we should go. He promises to bring hope, healing, strength, and restoration to our lives if we will believe His Word and trust Him to lead us. Plenty of people in the Bible chose to leave their pasts behind and follow God into something new. And you can too!
Prayer of the Day: Lord, give me courage to move beyond past pain. Heal my soul, restore my strength, and lead me forward into the new, abundant life You’ve prepared for me, amen.
