One of the greatest privileges I have as a counselor is to walk with people in their healing journey. I have been involved in this line of ministry in one way or another for several decades. As I pursued my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I knew that I was called to the Church and to point people to Jesus, the ultimate healer. 

Over time, there are some truths about healing that I have consistently experienced. When engaging in inner healing (evangelizing the unbelieving parts of a believer’s heart), the heart is the most sacred and holy ground. Our hearts are so precious to God. My friend recently wrote a beautiful post about a vision that God showed her with respect to our hearts. She describes God opening our chest and very gently extracting our heart, holding it as a prized possession. We know that it’s precious to Him because he gives us this piece of wisdom: “So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”  Our heart matters!

I’ve also experienced that healing is a process, and He is the one that invites us into a season of healing. Sometime this season looks like God is taking us right into a storm. He knows the exact thread to pull that begins to unravel our faulty values and beliefs. He knows the strongholds that keep us stuck in shame, performance and self-hatred. 

A few years ago I was counseling someone who was walking through a very difficult situation that brought a lot of shame to his life and was blinded by pain from the choices he had made. God instructed me to gently remind him that he was here at Jesus’ invitation. God had been preparing the way for him, thread by thread, experience by experience. He was ready to meet him in his pain, rescuing him from the darkness that he was sitting in. When we are constantly turning inward and start digging around trying to heal all of our faults, you miss God’s perfect timing and orchestration of your healing. This is what makes introspection so destructive. Introspection puts you in the seat of judge, jury, and executor. When you put your shovel of introspection down and allow issues to rise to the surface, then you know it’s those issues that God has prepared you for to heal. 

God is for you, not against you. A part of your inheritance he purchased on the cross is your ability to walk in freedom. All of the burdens, worries and cares that you are carrying, actually belong to Him. 

I’ve also experienced Jesus as being one who is intimately aware of you. To Him, our heart is like an open book. He is a gentleman that never pushes, never barges in and never demands; but rather a pursuer of your heart. He is relentless in His love for you. He will fight for you and He has never lost a battle. As the song Reckless Love describes the character of God; he will chase you down, fight until you’re found, and even leave the ninety-nine. There isn’t a shadow that He won’t light up, a mountain He won’t climb up and a wall he won’t kick down all in the most gentle manner that never violates. Forced love is no love at all. 

How is your heart doing? Do you find yourself going around the same bush every few months? Are there issues that keep rising to the surface you continue to push down and ignore? This may work for a while, but eventually they end up popping back up to the surface. You may push them down, but they never go away. The part of your heart and mind that houses trauma or wounding is not a keeper of time, only experiences. Until you encounter healing in these experiences, they will continue to rise to the surface. If this resonates with you, invest in yourself and find a professional to talk to; sometimes it just takes an objective listening ear to put you on a better path.