The Wounded Place

Recently, someone unwittingly said and did something that brought me back to the “Wounded Place”.   The place that I thought was healed and untouchable; yet here I am again, a child, feeling unwanted and unlovable. An old wound is opened and starts to fester. There is still some infected tissue that needs to be removed, so I can experience more healing.

As I struggle through the feelings of rejection, a battle is waged in my soul.  The Adult in me is fighting for the truth and who I am in Christ, while the child within is struggling with anger and sorrow.  The adult wants to understand and be gracious; the child wants to attack back and protect herself.  In the midst of this all the enemy of my soul is throwing the old lies in my face, saying, “See, you are not important or lovable, maybe if you were a different person then someone would want you.” 

At the same time Jesus is calling through the fog of pain and self-pity, saying,

“You are my beloved; don’t allow your mind to be twisted by the lies of the enemy. He wants to kill, steal and bring destruction to your life.  Instead of looking at the circumstances and others, look at me; I will clear your mind and give you a true and pure perspective.  I will cleanse your heart and set you free.  I love you with an Everlasting love and no one can snatch you out of my hand.  Every trial you experience is sifted through my hands of grace.  Instead of allowing your circumstances and other’s actions to control your thoughts and feelings, allow me to mature and change you more into my image.  When you focus on me, I am able to bring more healing into your life, as well as my peace and joy.  I am the one that gives you the ability to look away from yourself and onto the needs of others.  Allow my love to unclog your wounded heart so it may flow like a river into the lives of those around you. ”

We all have “wounded places” in our hearts, and Satan wants to dredge them up to continue to sow  anger, discontent, bitterness, self-pity, low self-esteem, etc… in our lives. These attitudes steal our peace and joy and the light of Christ is dimmed in our lives.

Instead of staying in the "wounded place", listen to Jesus; He beckons us to come unto Him for healing and acceptance.  He wants to remove the poison of the "wounds" from our lives; for if they fester, they become sin and keep us from experiencing His peace, love and joy.  If you are having a struggle in this area of your life, turn your eyes back to the life giver, who will change your perspective and allow you to receive His love and abundant life today.

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

John 10:10

“The thief comes only to seal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Psalm 13:5

“But I trust in your unfailing love; my   heart rejoices in your salvation.”

Lord, give us a deeper awareness of your love for us and bring healing to the wounded places in our hearts, so that we may love others, as you have loved us.   Amen

(Triss Curtis May 30, 2013)

"The Biggest Loser"

“The Biggest Loser”

Romans 12:1-2

“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The other night my daughter and I were watching part of the show called “The Biggest Loser”.  The people on the show were extremely overweight and most of them were discouraged and had a negative perspective of themselves. 

They were placing their hopes in the physical trainers to get them into shape, so they could experience joy and a healthy life.  Even though they knew the training would be tough; most of them didn’t realize how tough the regime would be to get them to place of health and wholeness.

The trainers would encourage them, sometimes yell at them, and do whatever they could to motivate the people to work hard to lose the weight. The trainers pushed the people to their limits and most of them broke down sometime or another, whining, crying or stomping off in anger, saying, “I can’t do it”, or, “it’s just too tough!”

Finally weigh in day came and they all lost some weight, some surprised themselves and lost several pounds!  As the weeks of training continued, I could see that the overweight people’s perspective of themselves changed.  They realized, if they listened to the trainer, focused on the goal and worked hard, they saw results.   Their negative thoughts about themselves changed and they replaced their bad habits with good habits.  As their inner thoughts and attitudes changed, their habits changed, as well as their outward appearance.

God’s word, says to be transformed, by the renewing of our minds and His word says that we are being changed from glory to glory.

An outward transformation of our lifestyles must always start with and inward transformation of our thoughts and heart attitudes; for our thoughts will guide our hearts and our hearts will direct our actions. 

If we really want a change in our lives, we must have renewed minds with thoughts that are true, pure, lovely and praiseworthy.  That can only be accomplished with God’s word and through us encouraging one another in the truth. 

Jesus is our trainer; encouraging us and building up our spiritual muscles.  He knows how to motivate us and he knows the kind of “workout” we need to make us spiritually healthy people.

He is has the “truth”, He is the truth and He promises to set us free!

My prayer is that we will all be “The Biggest Loser”, getting rid of the heavy weight of negative thinking and sinful habits, through renewing our minds with the truth in God’s word, as well as encouraging each other to follow our trainer, Christ Jesus our Lord.

triss