Remember when you would fall off your bike or fall while running on the sidewalk when you were a kid? Ouch! Depending on the severity of the scrapes or cuts, your cries would bring your Mom or others running to give you aid.
Maybe your Mom would pick you up, wipe off your tears, hug you, and tell you it would be okay. She would bring you into the house, wipe off the dirt from your wound and then assess what she needed to do. Maybe it was best to just let it heal in the open air, but chances were that she would put some sort of ointment on it and cover it with a bandage of some kind. I remember the pain old Bandaids, but for this generation, there are Scooby Doo, Minion, or Barbie bandages. The other day, I even saw bandages with pictures of bacon on them. Are you kidding me?! Do you really want bacon on your “owie”?
In our modern day, we now have a bandage specific to any type of wound; waterproof, butterfly, clear, fabric, etc. We want for nothing in America except….answers to our emotional wounds.
The emotional wounds from our childhood are deep and many times, relate to our very identity. Wounds such as horrific abuse of any kind, neglect, abandonment, rape, abortion, betrayal. They slice us to our core and if not healed, we will try for the rest of our life to put a “bandage” on them and try to ignore them. Bandages we may use are alcohol, drugs, sex, food, overworking, anorexia, sports, achievements, isolation, etc. Sometimes we think if we just go to one more huge worship event or a special service at a church, or one more Bible study, the pain will go away and never resurface. Bandages are not the answer; true and deep understanding and healing are, with the truth of the Word of God leading us.
When we get right down to it, the enemy is the one who has buried us under shame, guilt and unforgiveness. That is his mission, but the mission of the Lord God is to lift us out of it and help us rise in the freedom He can give us. When a wound is truly healed, we don’t need a bandage anymore, right? That is what God can do for you and me.
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word.” Psalm 119:37
This Tuesday, April 26, on Chained No More Talk Radio, I will do part 2 of “Breaking Free Once and for All.” Lynda Hodge, an experienced “Chained No More” leader, will interview me about the life-changing book and curriculum, “Chained No More…A Journey of Healing for Ault Children of Divorce/Childhood Brokenness.” We will continue discussing the “Chained No More” process toward full healing, through the hard work of exploration and discovery of how our past has wounded us, and how we can be free from the effects on our lives. Tune in at 2pmET at www.toginet.com.
This could be the day you rip those bandages off once and for all and live free from the wounds your past has placed in you. Now, wouldn’t that feel great?!