In class today, I learned about how fleshly wounds heal.
- "inflammatory" stage: 2-5 days.
- proliferation stage: 2-3 weeks.
- restoration stage: weeks to years.
And the teacher was talking about it so logically. Like, this is what the blood clots do. Then they get stuck in this extracellular matrix. Then this happens. Then your body signals this.
I wish emotional healing was like that.
Emotional wounds... ultimately affect close relationships, mostly marriage and your relationship with God.
I went to a Church, heard a testimony of a pastor whose daughter or son married X person whose father and mother were drug addicts, who came from super broken homes, but of course the X person was completely touched by God and healed (like literally, plus virginity physically restored--found out on their honeymoon). I told my parents this story, and they discussed among other Christian parents whether they would ever let their kids marry someone from that kind of family background, even if God healed them.
The problem is that most of the time, we don't believe that the person is completely healed of emotional wounds. And that's because most of the time they aren't! It takes the Holy Spirit's touch and power to heal someone. And sometimes it takes years. God has to touch you again and again, and as you forgive that person who hurt you and even start to bless them, that's when you begin that healing process. Many people give their testimony of being healed, and it starts out with "I thought I had forgiven him, but...". Forgiveness only starts the healing process.
Yet, sin still has its effects. There are still other things that we all have to conquer.
This is such a touchy topic. But we need to start talking about it. Not categorizing people, or being ashamed/embarrassed of emotional wounds. Not making judgments, or hiding things. But believing in healing. Admitting the need for healing. Allowing God to heal us. To heal this broken generation. To heal this cynical generation. This unbelieving generation. We don't believe in love anymore, because of this broken world, because of all the broken and failed relationships.
God is love. We have to know this love. Then we will know how powerful this love is.
Interesting! I also think that it may take constant forgiveness for Christ's redemptive power to be revealed to that person and others. In other words, that maybe the personA who married the broken but now restored personB may still need to daily forgive personB so that personB would also know practically that personB has also been forigven by God. Does that make sense? It also shows others that if personA can forgive personB for past things, that Christ is alive and working through us! What do you think? I guess this understanding comes from personal experiences so might be limited.
ReplyDeleteyea, definitely agree with that also! I've heard that a lot from married people. That they learned from their spouse what it was like to be loved, and that also helped them both in the healing process and improved their relationship with, and understand of God as well.
DeleteBut at the same time, I think most people want there to be a head start on that process of healing BEFORE they get married. There are always those testimonies from pastors that are like "the first 10 years of our marriage was rough", because they were still dealing with past baggage/hurt and not knowing what it means to love since they've never been loved properly.