You know, there are so many aspects to living our lives as intentionally as we can. There are also many facets in our journey to healing from abuse.
There is one in particular that I have always felt strongly about. That is dealing with our feelings, not stuffing them. I don’t want to take the full credit for writing about this today because it is motivated in part by a devotional from “Daughters of Promise.” The title really struck me, “Stuffing Things Out of Sight.”
Just reading the title made me immediately flash on how strongly I believe that we should let ourselves truly feel and express the emotions that we have and in particular, regarding our abuse. Pushing our feelings down, only creates further problems for us because it doesn’t make them go away. All it does is make our inner child angry that she isn’t given the freedom to express herself.
Then, the devotional quoted a verse that I personally have never seen before. Proverbs 14:13 - “Even in laughter the heart may be in pain and the end of joy may be grief.”
Wow! The first part is so true for the majority of us. We put on a mask of being okay when inside we are truly hurting. Sometimes for the present but often for the past.
I wanted to close with the summary from the devotional. “While I played pretend, God noticed. He was already acquainted with the events that shaped my grief. He knew the instant they occurred that I would develop deep scars over the years. But He also hoped that I would not choose to stuff the memories out of sight. He, the Healer and Redeemer, continually reached out to me to draw me to Himself. He had everything I needed to navigate the journey. Time, insight, perception, comfort, and healing. After a season of grieving, I finally experience the day when my laughter was no longer shallow but instead, bore the evidence of a joy too abundant to conceal. While there were and are, no shortcuts, the pilgrimage through the valley of sorrow is a temporary one.”
As she wrote, there are no shortcuts, however, there is healing that is waiting for us. We just need to turn to the Great Healer and let Him have His way with us….only then will we find what we are longing for.