It has been twelve painstakingly slow weeks since my shoulder surgery. Fortunate to get through those early days post op with minimal pain and relative ease, I showed up to my first PT appointment with an overachiever’s zeal. Proudly not wearing my sling and showing off my range of motion, I was greeted by what felt like a brick wall. “Slow and steady wins this race,” cautioned Dan.
No Short Cuts
Apparently, there is a right way and a wrong way to heal. If you try to strengthen an injured shoulder prematurely, I learned, you actually weaken it. Your compensating muscles take over the work the shoulder is too fragile to perform. The end result is a weaker joint, vulnerable to re-injury. In other words, there are no short cuts to healthy healing.
Let me say that again. There are no short cuts to healthy healing. It’s true for shoulders and I’ve come to believe it’s true for our hearts and souls too. No one escapes the hard parts of life. In my experience, every single one of us is bleeding under her armor.
Pain and Trauma
What have you experienced that has been so painful, so disorienting or so traumatic that your strategy has been to ‘just move on’? Perhaps there is no adequate way to fix it. You’ve asked all the questions of the professionals and you’ve asked all the questions of God, and still you’re left with a heap of debris. So to cope, you build a new life as best you can on top of the pile. You get busy, you smile, you carry on. Time passes and you may even think you’re out of the woods. But… inevitably something pokes the bear and you’re right back under the rotting garbage pile.
Self-Protection
The irony is this…the whitewash strategy seems to work until it doesn’t. The way I see it, we’ve become experts at self-protection instead of yielding to the Lord’s work of redemption.
Because it’s so scary to hope again after heartache or to trust our God who allowed it to happen, we protect ourselves as if bracing for impact. When we dare pray for that miracle, we open ourselves to the possibility of more disappointment. Instead, it’s just easier to harden our hearts while we keep our expectations in check and live small, safe lives.
Yielding to Redemption
The Lord doesn’t want us to shrink but rather to live big, bold lives full of hope and daring to trust Him even when we can’t understand His ways. That is what it looks like to yield to His work of redemption.
Lent
We’re in the midst of Lent, that 40-day stretch devoted to our search for hope in the midst of the rubble. We remember a sinless Jesus, the Messiah, whose circumstances turned on a dime. Once worshipped and adored, He was stripped of his freedom, rejected by friends, despised by the crowd, tortured, mocked and crucified.
On Good Friday, Jesus’ broken body hung on a cross. In excruciating agony, Jesus cried out in despair because He thought His Father had forgotten Him.
Matthew 27:46 Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
But His Father had not forgotten Him. Those times when we think it, the Father hasn’t forgotten us either.
Not All There Is
To observe Lent is to prepare for Easter and its wonderful reminder that this life with all of its hard parts— the evil, the disappointment, the injustice, the suffering, the heartbreak — is not all there is. The empty tomb proves it. Because God resurrected Jesus, we can be confident that He’ll come back to redeem us too. And He’ll redeem every part of us, even and especially the broken and painful parts.
1 John 3:2 2 …now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him…
A Process
Do you get it? Healthy healing is a process and requires a level of honesty and waiting. We are under construction (being redeemed) until He calls us home. And that transformation process with all the necessary pruning can hurt.
Isaiah 64:8 And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
But the Lord doesn’t stay distant in the heavens and watch us in pain. Nor does He expect us to curl up and just take the suffering. He wants to engage with us, to sit with us in it and through it, no matter what the ugly ‘it’ is.
How?
Did you know there are more Psalms of lament and complaint than there are of praise and thanksgiving? Doesn’t that surprise you? The way I see it, to bring your honest, heavy heart full of grief and loss and heartache and lament to the Lord is actually a beautiful form of worship. In fact, that is precisely where healthy healing can occur, at the foot of the cross.
Perhaps this Lenten season it’s time to engage with the Lord and lay your heart bare. Dump your anger, bitterness, disappointment, confusion and fear at His feet. Invite Him to penetrate that wall of protection and tend to your injured heart and soul.
Imagine
When you do, this is the scene I imagine… The Lord takes your face in His hands, tilts your chin up and says with gentle and kind compassion… “Daughter, I love you, and have your very best in mind. I see your deep wounds and I will heal them. I have good things planned for you. Be hopeful and trust Me again. Keep looking up with your eyes on Me. When you do, you’ll be able to see My goodness in the land of the living.” Psalm 27.
Please enjoy this song as it’s my prayer for you this Lenten season.
For His Glory, Debbie Hucke
Katy Nichole — In Jesus’ Name
Beautiful song and written words of wisdom. Hope you are almost fully recovered and will pray for your complete healing of your shoulder and patience 🙂
Thanks… I will get there. The shoulder is easy peasy compared to the heart.
Thanks Debbie for these inspiring words and for the reminder that it’s not by our own strength that we are healed, but by surrendering ourselves to Jesus. And thanks for the song by Katy Nichole- one of my fav’s too!
I heard it for the first time quite recently. But it has definitely stuck with me.
The song said it all. Now I know how to pray for those whose hearts are breaking. Thank you.
Sometimes healing takes a very long time., and I like the truth that I am being redeemed. God isn’t finished with any of us yet!
Always praying for you and your family.????
I heard it for the first time recently. It brought me to tears. As always, thank you Anne.
I have already played this song at least 6 times, what awesome message for such a time as this. Thank you for the prayer and your inspiration
Isn’t it wonderful. As Anne Kole mentioned, it is helpful to know how to pray for our brokenhearted friends and family. So often we feel powerless. And we’re not. In Jesus name.
Timely message for me. Four weeks ago I had an emergency heart event, resulting in having a pacemaker installed. That, plus the accompanying A-fib, has me recuperating with little energy or stamina and dealing with new and powerful medications.
Patience, the doc says. You have wires in your heart. They need time to settle firmly into place. Meanwhile, no tennis or chopping wood for you, he jokes.
I empathize with your healing, and I enjoyed your well-timed message of hope!
Amen my author friend. Yikes, that is scary. Lay low and be kind to yourself. My healing is a piece of cake compared to emotions of the heart. It sure has given me perspective.
I just heard the song yesterday for the first time!! What a great way to pray for myself and everyone else! Thanks for the reminder to give Jesus everything and then let Him fill me back up with His love, His Peace, His kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and joy. I just did that last night! I love His timing! God bless you and I do pray for your complete healing heart and shoulder!
Thank you Berta. I still remember you walking me through my first heart healing in a church pew in Decatur. (I forget what that is called when you picture Jesus at the scene). But it still helps me. This weeks content was really inspired by a deeply hurting friend still undone from a horrific family trauma. But I’ve been there for sure.
Let me say that again. There are no short cuts to healthy healing. It’s true for shoulders and I’ve come to believe it’s true for our hearts and souls too. No one escapes the hard parts of life. In my experience, every single one of us is bleeding under her armor.
Oh Debbie so profound. As my heart still pounding from the shooting in Glenwood Hills on Monday and this morning to wake up the the news of the Golf Team, University of the Southwest, and Ukraine, it is so overwhelming and without the HOPE, without the knowing as you said Jesus holding my FACE in his hands promising me that HOPE. How could we make it without him? As you said, even if we are going through personal hurt, the world hurt keeps us bleeding under our armor. Thank you for always being able to have the wisdom to help us with his words through your writing.
Thank you Donna. I so agree. Hope is our only hope. If the personal heartache doesn’t slow us, the world offers plenty. It can be overwhelming. Thank you for your comments. Miss you my friend.
And there are no shortcuts to healthy grieving. I just have to take His hand and continue on the journey, trusting that He will always be with me.
Indeed Katherine! May the Lord be your hope to keep on keeping on. Praying for you today. Debbie
Thanks, Debbie ~ As I’m trying to help a family who seem hopeless to the world, I thought, “No, not hopeless!” This is an encouragement for me and I think for others who are being light and love which we cannot manufacture on our own!
Good point Cathy! Our comfort is empty without the name of Jesus!
Deb,
How appropriate this was for me. I have been going through some big life decisions and have been “begging” God to give me the answer. Well I continued to pray and lament and nothing was changing until I took the step toward my mental, spiritual and physical healing. After two medical doctors and two mental health counselors and multiple spiritual counselors (one of the advantages of working in a Christ mission driven hospital) I decided to take some time off of work and heal. I made a huge decision. I am retiring from main stream hospital nursing June 1st. I will then continue with my dream job of Holistic Nursing. I have clients already seeking my services. I can also see God never abandoned me….I just wasn’t listening. Stay tuned for more to come. Oh and I will be in Albuquerque in June for my holistic conference. One of my sisters is coming out and we are going to see the sights…hoping we can see you if our schedules match up.
Mary J.
Yes! Thanks for sharing Mary. I do hope it works to connect. Holistic practitioners are in short supply in our state. I’d sure support you and your colleagues!
Sounds like a new chapter and one you’re listening for His direction. AMEN.