Yesterday, I wrote about how my left shoulder had seized up. Today, it has been much looser and I can turn my head without turning my whole body. But it is still stiff and sore.
A lot of the pain has been eased as a result of some very strong painkillers, for which I am very grateful.
They have dulled the pain to a mild tenderness and inconvenience, rather than a throbbing and nauseating ache.
However, whilst the painkillers have dulled the pain, and things seem to be getting better, painkillers can be deceptive. We can think that we're healed and recovered, but they really only mask the pain. Sometimes we can be tempted to try using those muscles again - lifting heavy objects, exercising again, etc. - because they feel as though they are healed. But when we do this, we can end up causing ourselves more pain and greater injury because we're not really healed.
Painkillers numb the pain, but they don't really get to the heart of things.
In life, we can sometimes take emotional or spiritual painkillers, too. We can find ways of dulling the pain and hiding the ache, so that we don't have to endure it.
it is always easier to take painkillers and to mask the pain, rather than to expose it and endure it, in order to heal it.
But things can't heal properly unless we expose them and acknowledge our need for healing.
And when we do, God promises to step in and to heal our hurting hearts:
"If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there."
[Psalm 34:18 MSG]
and
"He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds."
and binds up their wounds."
[Psalm 147:3 NIV]
But in order for our wounds to be healed, we need to stop taking the painkillers that numb the pain and acknowledge it instead.
These are the words of the chorus from 'Healing Begins' by Tenth Avenue North -
"This is where the healing begins
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken inside
The light meets dark."
No comments:
Post a Comment