We're going to take a look at living with wounds and scars. What does that mean? Let me tell you a story as we get going. In 1 Chronicles chapter 10, there is a war taking place, and King Saul is killed. It takes place like this - 1 Chronicles 10:3-4: "The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him. Saul said to his armor-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me.' But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it." - now, for context, the "uncircumcised fellows" were the Philistines (their enemies) and Saul's armor bearer was with him carrying his armor. So what do I mean when I say that we'll be talking about living with wounds and scars? Well, sometimes in life, "the fighting grows fierce." Things happen, whatever "things" might mean in your life... And sometimes we are "overtaken" by these things, and we are wounded. Whether it's a breakup, getting cut from the team, someone dying, losing an opportunity, a mistake you've made or something that was done to you - whatever it may be in your life, it's a wound. If you don't have one yet, know that you will at some point in your life, and so keep our words today in mind. So things happen, it gets to be too much, and then the dagger - a wound. Saul was "overtaken" by "archers." You might have imagined him being shot by like ONE arrow and then just dying - no. He was "overtaken" by "archers" (which is plural, basically implying he was surrounded and shot at until it was simply overwhelming and he was wounded) - THIS is how we get wounds and scars. For me, it wasn't JUST moving out for the first time in my life to go to college (and I had lived with just my mom in the same house for my whole life, so this was TOUGH) - it was ALSO being dumped, removed from my church , cut from the baseball team, and losing potentially life changing opportunities all in the same MONTH as when I moved out. Many arrows. Could probably have survived the breakup, being cut - but when you throw everything together and it all happens at the same time, that's just a nightmare. But it's what happened. Maybe for you it's different, maybe it really was just one deadly dagger, one scar in your life - that's still being "overtaken" and "wounded" so when we say what we're going to say today, know that this, these wounds and scars in life, is what I'm going to be referring to. Saul, knowing that his enemies would come and torture him, told his armor-bearer to kill him ("run me through" referring to his sword, which he eventually fell on in order to die). Saul didn't want to live through that hardship. Now, realistically, they wouldn't have killed him, they probably just would have taxed him and enslaved his nation and made his life miserable - hardships. Saul didn't want the hardships so he took the coward's way out. This is VERY tempting to do with wounds and scars, and it comes in different forms - obviously the first thing to come to mind is suicide, but also in subtler ways like with self harm/giving into sinful habits and searching for fulfillment apart from God to try to numb yourself - it's an action that God doesn't want for you, all just to avoid the hardships. But we'll look today not at "getting over your scars," but "living with them." For Saul, "getting over his wounds" would have looked like winning. They would have beaten the Philistines. In life, you don't always get to win. When that person dies, they don't come back. When you lose that opportunity, the next one doesn't always just fall out of the sky. When someone takes advantage of you, you don't always get the dream partner to swoop in and save the day. Sometimes we lose. Badly. Today, here's the approach we will take: You are Saul. Instead of falling on your sword or trying to numb the pain, you are going to live with it. The Philistines will rule you, life will be hard. Your wounds and scars won't magically disappear - you'll learn to live with them. Admittedly, this is more realistic than just killing yourself or your life magically getting better - it's a good, realistic, mature thing to do to try to live with your wounds and scars. We'll take a look at this in 6 different stages. Here they are listed below in order:

1. You'll Identify your wound and prevent it from spreading to other areas and leaving you hurt in more ways than before.

2. COMPLETELY cut off behaviors that deepen your wound (which is different than "spreading" to other areas).

3. Realize your worth in spite of your wound.

4. Live your life without things needing to magically get better (living with your wound).

5. Try to find healing through Jesus Christ.

6. Help others (a full-circle moment, and you can be at your lowest when you do this by the way so don't overlook it if you're still hurt and feel incapable of helping).

Identify your wound and prevent it from spreading to other areas and leaving you hurt in more ways than before

Obviously the first step to any of this is identifying your wound. Now I know that sounds super psychological and you think I'm going to give some speech - I'm not. I can't. I'm not a psychologist. I'm just a dude with a wound that Jesus Christ loves and uses to write messages like these. That's it... And from my experience, you need to identify your wound. Even before that, you need to identify that you actually have one. How are you going to know? You don't always magically wake up with a broken heart and mental health struggle. This is the case many times, don't get me wrong - when I was dumped, I didn't even make it back to my dorm room before KNOWING I was hurt. But there are times when it's going to be more subtle - you slowly, over time, find yourself feeling either really sad or really anxious, maybe really numb - you feel off, like you're struggling and it's not normal, but unlike me with my relationship you might not have anything to point to and say "this is why." So how do you know? Things will change. You'll feel sad more often, you'll take an unusual displeasure in things (for example work sucks but now you hate it even more than usual), you take up sinful habits (like porn or abusing/being abused by social media and substances), you have less self-control than usual - these are all pointers, but here is easily the number one way to identify that something is wrong: you just want to be alone.

Why is that? Think about it: it's almost impossible to have gotten your wounds and scars from being alone. Chances are, it was other people, opportunities (which involves you and that opportunity, so not just you being alone) - chances are you didn't get hurt sitting in your room on your phone thinking and feeling through things. And, better yet, the chances (you feel, based on the fact that you've been hurt) are that you WON'T get hurt by being isolated. Can't get dumped by nobody! Can't get cut from a team you don't tryout for! At the very beginning of the human race when Adam was alone, God said “It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). And that's true today, isn't it? We go to school - classmates. Work - bosses and coworkers. The store - other shoppers and workers. Even when you go to a sporting event and all you want to see is the action on the field, even then you're surrounded by a stadium full of fans (other people). I'll do you one even better than that: when you're alone, you'll often think about yourself with others, or you'll go on social media or watch something (which I can almost guarantee will have someone in it, a character or influencer of some sort). As we saw in that passage and all the examples I used, we are clearly hard-wired to be social. So to isolate, to want to be alone, indicates that something is wrong. Now, like I showed when I used all those "other pointers," there are other ways to know that you have a wound. Either way, you now know THAT you have a wound.

But what is it? The quickest way to figure that out is to calculate what it motivating the behavior that you believe makes you wounded. I'm not a doctor this is just common sense. "It's broken" because "it doesn't work like normal" - so then "who broke it" will be "whoever made it stop working like normal." Why are you isolating? Are you afraid of time with others? Maybe your wound is that you value the others see you, and you feel either unseen or seen negatively or at least you have a fear of these things. Why are you watching porn? Maybe your wound is either a breakup or a LACK of relationship or at least a lack of the (temporary) instant sexual and emotional gratifications that porn offers. Why do you use substances so often? Because you want to feel differently, either more or less - what was wrong with what you felt before? Who or what made it wrong to be yourself the way God made you? THAT is your wound - oftentimes, there's nothing wrong, and the wound IS your wound. You're not watching porn because of a breakup, but because of temptations. You're not using drugs to avoid feeling pain, but simply because you prefer the high - in this way, the wound itself can be your true wound. Use common sense like this to identify (1) that you're wounded and (2) what your wound is.

If everything said so far is not enough for you or isn't "working" (which is a really poor way of looking at these gradual processes), then pray (actually, do that first, and I'm serious when I say that because talking to God is way more effective than listening to me, if that makes sense). Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding of things." James 1:5: "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray to God and ask for answers, and He will not find fault but will give generously to those who ask of Him." - so God won't find fault, He won't judge you for not having the answers - He will communicate with you and put the message that you need on your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13: "I hear you when you pray to me, and you will find me when you search with all your heart." If that doesn't "work" either, then seek the professional help that I cannot offer - again I'm just a dude - find someone who isn't and pay that individual a visit.

So now we've identified your state of woundedness and your actual wound - now we need to prevent it from spreading. Understand that this is NOT the same as your wound deepening, which we will look at next. Think of a knee injury, like when you fall on the ground and scrape your knee - "spreading" that wound would be like scraping your arm - this is when your wound with relationships, for example, becomes your wound with alcohol. "Deepening" that knee injury would be further and deeper injuring your knee - your relationship wound just gets worse. So that's sort of the difference between spreading and deepening, and this is sort of what we mean by them. You need to prevent your wound from spreading to other areas, otherwise you will have more issues and be more hurt than you were at first. I'll give you an example from my life: when I was removed from my church, I felt judged (which was true, I was, but only by the people that did what they did). That obviously impacted me mentally and emotionally, and it made me feel judged not just that night or in that way or by those people - it made me "feel" judged, as if it was a constant state of being. It didn't entirely make me change my behaviors so that others would see me in a positive light, but it certainly made that impacted a little bit, and I felt the need to justify myself in my own mind ALL THE TIME. Early on in one of my classes a few semesters later, I had this obnoxious professor tell me that he didn't "feel I was very committed to the class" because I didn't go to an optional field trip that didn't have a ride to get to - on the third day of class. So early on into the course and into my relationship with him, I felt so judged. I saw those church leaders when I looked at him (not literally, but figuratively). Throughout the rest of the semester I didn't engage in the class as much and often felt that, being less experienced in media (it was a cinematography class) and more of a blue-collar "throw it together on free software" kind of guy, I just felt judged. It felt like the church all over again. All the other students had in home studios and have been editing since they were 9, and I'm just a failed baseball player that barely knows how to use free software that I learned AFTER getting here. I felt judged. I used stereotypes to identify myself and others, and it guided how I saw things. It was me against the world. Here's the problem: it wasn't. It was me against myself. What happened at church was done - it already happened. Don't get me wrong, this professor was a jerk, and these students had advantages before they had compassion, but still - my church hurt had become my school hurt. They didn't say or do anything nearly as bad as the church leaders had - but in my mind they did. I made myself face the world as a hero, when truthfully it was just me against the real villain (myself, my perspective). This can't happen. Your knee injury can't become your arm injury. Think about it like this: you get hurt in a relationship, and so you pursue another one (keep in mind that "relationship" is just an example that you could apply to anything). You start drinking. If you hurt your arm badly enough, you now no longer have to worry about your knee. Here's the problem with that: your arm. So if you're feeling hurt, if something's been done to you, if you've made some sort of mistake, whatever the case may be - do NOT start doing things in your everyday life that are different in an unhealthy way, because this will spread your wound. And it starts small - staying up later, eating unhealthier, feeling judged like I did - over time it gets worse and leads to deadly addictions and numbing feelings, like the ones I've had and still deal with. I'm not speaking from diploma, I'm speaking from experience, which is so, so much more valuable (plus my therapy is free, but anyways). Do not start fighting your battle in more than one battlefield, if that makes sense. If you're struggling from a breakup, the last thing you need is to take up newer things like dating apps and social media and "personal branding" (like when you try to improve yourself but accidentally become the center of your universe) - the diploma would tell you to do everything I just said not to do. "Find yourself, search within." No. What comes in must go out, so it's not what's "already within" but rather what you TAKE IN, and when you "search yourself" you basically become God and take yourself in - the more and more you do this, the more and more it will hurt that you (in all your newfound inner greatness) are doing it alone, still no partner - the expensive diploma guy just made your wound worse and now you, in addition to being heartbroken, are a narcissist.

What alternatives do you have? Jesus Christ. It's that simple. "I am the way" (John 14:6). Acts 17:28 teaches us that "In Him we live and move and have our being." So this idea of "searching inwardly" is stupid - don't search the fallen creation, search the flawless creator (He doesn't have a diploma either and His therapy is also free, which is why I highly recommend praying often, which is His therapy). "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). So yes, "I can do all things" but it's only "through Christ who gives me strength." All our searchings and changes in this time of woundedness need to be "in Christ." It is only "in Him" that we truly live (feel, have life again after being wounded) and move (moving forward from this) and have our being (He is our true identity, not any of these other things that can leave us wounded). And so any "new ventures" will just be distractions, and not only that - you're not ready for them. YOU'RE WOUNDED! It's like an injured fighter signing up for another fight - you'll lose again. You don't have the right mindset or energy or state of mental health to take anything new right now - the self-help gurus, if they aren't so offended that they're still reading, are by this point plotting my death for saying these things. But what they teach isn't the truth. "I am the truth" (John 14:6). The only way to truly live and move, to have our being and find life after being wounded, it's only through Jesus Christ. "I am the life" (John 14:6). You may have noticed that I've cited the verse 3 different times. Here it is in full. John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." - so it's only through Jesus Christ that we can truly come to God and find healing. Instead of trying to look to other things to find happiness or fulfillment - isolate and address your wound. You don't need a new relationship - you need to heal from the old one. If you seriously believe that the answer is a new relationship, then this is proof of just how badly hurt you still are by the relationship that you claim to have healed from (keep in mind that "relationship" is just an example that you could apply to anything). So don't spread your wound. Know what it is and keep it there, ultimately healing it day by day through Jesus Christ (which we will talk about later). But it's not just that your wound will spread - Satan will also try to deepen it.

COMPLETELY cut off behaviors that deepen your wound

Understand that this is NOT the same as your wound spreading to other areas, which we just looked at. Think of a knee injury, like when you fall on the ground and scrape your knee - "spreading" that wound would be like scraping your arm - this is when your wound with relationships, for example, becomes your wound with alcohol. "Deepening" that knee injury would be further and deeper injuring your knee - your relationship wound just gets worse. So that's sort of the difference between spreading and deepening, and this is sort of what we mean by them. You need to prevent your wound from deepening and becoming even more intense and painful than ever before.

Sometimes we'll try to numb out our specific pain - if you're broke, you'll play the lottery to be distracted by the ongoing, eternal hope of becoming rich - and when you lose at least there's the next chance, and so instead of feeling your original pain and your new pain from losing you just distract yourself with another chance to win, but at a price (whatever that "soul" thing is that Jesus talked about...) - all the while you're just making the original problem worse by spending money on losing lottery tickets. It's like this with relationships. Out of spite towards the person who hurt me, I pursued a new relationship, and admittedly it was stupid from the beginning given who she was and what the situation was - I own that it was destined to fail. But, for that reason, out of spite, I did it because I wanted to prove that even in that I could find more happiness than I had before, with her. And it worked, in the moment - that was the happiest season in my entire life - that few months. Led to years of pain. This is what deepening your wound looks like. This is why we have to completely hit the switch when it comes to lust, social media, selfishness, and other things. If we give into these things a little bit, we become tempted to give into them a lot, or at least they TAKE a lot whether we like it or not. They make us feel so good in the moment, but in the long run they cause more pain - this is almost the exact definition of what alcohol and substances do to us, so don't turn to or even glance at these things when you're wounded. Hebrews 12:11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." - while it may be hard in the moment, God is training us through everything we go through and every difficult decision that we make. Discipline is unpleasant in the moment but it lasts eternally and gives results that are worth it. So be disciplined with your body, with food, with your phone, even with your mindset and how you think. "Endure hardship as discipline" (Hebrews 12:7). With these things that we are tempted to turn to when hurt, there's a negative. It's kill or be killed. So have discipline - either you turn these things off and completely, cold-turkey drop them, or they will (over time, and don't let the slow process deceive you into thinking it's ok) have that same impact on your heart and on your faith.

One big misunderstanding you might come to when we look at it like this, is that you'll feel that you're NOT deepening your wound just because you're not doing any of the bad or negative things I've described. That's false. EVERY step that isn't directly and urgently towards healing is a step towards pain. Sounds dramatic, don't believe me? Think back to the example with the knee injury - you scrape your knee on the ground and it gets infected. Moment by moment, that infection is getting worse, and EVERY single step you take will hurt more and more. Even (and PLEASE remember this) steps towards healing will hurt when YOU'RE hurt. Don't blame God or the healing process, just recognize that a knee injury means painful steps, and that EVERY step that isn't a head first dive towards the feet of Jesus, every such action of not fully taking action by submitting all your actions to Him in all that you do on EVERY step of this life and faith journey - every step, whether terrible or not, that you take outside of this will only cause more and more pain. EVERY step you take without taking action you're basically striking your own weakness.

What's the solution? The solution to my knee problem was to open it up and let the nurse put all kinds of disinfectant crap on there - it hurt in the moment but ultimately brought healing. By doing nothing, nothing hurts, but the pain you are building up for yourself (again, each step that you take) is going to be truly unbearable (even eternal, if you want to get deep). I'll give you an example: In 2 Kings 19, Jerusalem was about to be destroyed by this opposing nation. They knew that the other nation (the Assyrians) had a long history of mercilessly crushing people and nations stronger than they, and they also knew that they had no realistic defense. The King of Jerusalem could have NOT admitted this or tried to avoid it (after all, it's embarrassing to admit it and honestly what difference did it make they had no chance either way) - this is what "not treating the knee" looks like. Or, he could rip open the wound and treat it. That's what he did. In 2 Kings 19:17-19 he prays these words: “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand (the Assyrian commander that was threatening them), so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.” Notice something right away - "it is true." That's like saying "yes, my knee is injured, now let's take care of it." The king is ripping open the wound with his very first words - take notice of this. So what is it that's true? That the Assyrians had a history of crushing other nations. That strikes a nerve for Jerusalem. They don't want to talk about it. Maybe for you, you don't want to talk about your trauma, mistakes, whatever the past is. You'd rather avoid it. But it's deepening your wound - treat the knee. "It is true, the Assyrians have laid these other nations waste." He specifically lifted his fear up to the Lord. It was deeply personal - get personal like this. "It is true, God, that I made this mistake" or "that this was done to me" or "that this is still hurting me" or WHATEVER IT MAY BE, take the part that hurts the most and lift it up to God in prayer. Pray a new prayer, each day until healing, to God in order to find healing - and after you are healed, keep praying everyday but this time a prayer of gratitude for having found healing. Here's the best part - after lifting his specific wound up to the Lord in prayer, the king asks for deliverance. After saying "it is true, they are greater," he finishes his prayer by saying "now deliver us from his hand." So lifts up the wound and SEEKS HEALING. It's not just "It is true, God, that I made this mistake" or "that this was done to me" or "that this is still hurting me" or WHATEVER IT MAY BE, but you now add "deliver me" - whether that means "help me to move forward" or "forgive them" or "find healing" or "process this" - whatever being delivered looks like, you need to pray for it and live for Christ as you wait and in all things. Lift your wounds up to the Lord and let Him heal them. The solution to my knee injury was well known even by me, but that knowledge was worthless until I actually acted on it and treated the wound - I know you know, but DO SOMETHING. Pray to God. Lift it up to Him. The context of this prayer is that in 2 Kings 19:14 (just a few verses earlier), the king "spread out the letter (with which the Assyrians had threatened them) before the Lord (presumably by spreading it out in the temple and praying)." That letter was his greatest fear, his knee injury, his wound, and he "spread it out before God." Basically "God, here it is." He lifted it up to God in prayer - do the same. The story ends with the Assyrians never attacking them, but being slaughtered by them (which was a miracle given the difference in strength between these nations). God granted them a victory over their wound and worry, and He wants to do the same for you - lift it up to Him in prayer, but if you don't, and if you turn to other things during this time of pain, then all your are doing is deepening your wound.

Hebrews 12:1-2: "Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus." - throw EVERYTHING off, even if "doing nothing" is a part of that everything when you're wounded. Most of the time though it's those "sinful things" that "so easily entangle us" when we're wounded - the Devil tempts us to turn to these things instead of turning to Jesus. That's why we have to "persevere" especially when wounded, and not only do we "fix our eyes" on Jesus (basically focus your perspective on Him, make Him what you focus on and look to) - not only that, but in this race we call life and in this marathon we call healing, we are "running" to Jesus. So turn to Him instead of deepening your wound. The next thing you need to do is realize your value, even though you live with this wound you still have incredible value both to God and this world, and you need to realize it.

Realize your worth in spite of your wound

You have to realize that, despite these wounds that we live with, you still have immense value to God and to this world. Again, despite our wounds and what we go through, these are the Lord's words to us: John 15:3: “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” - God loves you immeasurably. Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you: plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 1 Samuel 16:7: “Do not consider height or appearances. The Lord does not look at the things that people look at, for the Lord looks at the heart.” - you are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and everything He made was made very good (Genesis 1:31, everything including you just the way you are), and He specifically formed you in your mothers womb (Jeremiah 1:5) just the way you are. Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations." So before you're even born or even in the womb God loves you! He has plans for you. Job 7:17 (paraphrase): “God thinks very highly of you and pays attention to your life because you matter to Him.”

Psalm 139:13-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” - God created our inmost being. He knows our thoughts, our longings and what we've been through. It was the same thing for the Israelites, which is why He could say "I have seen your misery and heard your despair and I am concerned for you" (Exodus 3:7). God knows about our bad habits, what specifically clicks and doesn't click with us - it's personal, it's our inmost being, and He created it. Satan attacks it. Whether with selfish pursuits, false humility and imaging, sexual pleasures or desires, alcohol or substances - Satan is always attacking from the mind and heart, the inmost being. But God made us "fearfully and wonderfully" so I say that today we take a stand and praise God for this work, and honor it by doing the best we can and taking care of it, again all from the inmost being. The rest of this verse means that we know, no matter how addicted or unattractive or messy or dirty we may feel, we know that God created us fearfully and wonderfully and that we are enough. We don't have to compare, or cut, or drink, or smoke, or dress more or less or differently - there is nothing you have to do - you are enough because He made you perfectly the way you are. Honor that by living for Him and taking a stand against the Devil's work in your life. No matter what your wound may be, you are incredibly valuable to God.

Psalm 103:10: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." - this has bothered me for a long time. Why is God so forgiving, why doesn't He judge sins immediately and have no mercy? Love isn't free and easy - that's affection, infatuation, or sometimes lust, and it's usually based off of what a person can do for you. That's why all these kids in my hopeless generation run around falling in love all the time - it's usually just a crush, get over it. But God doesn't take this approach with us. He doesn't love and forgive because of how great and attractive we are and what we can do for Him - it's based on what He can do for us, especially when it comes to our wounds. That's why "He does not treat us as our sins deserve" - not because you have earned being passed over and given a new opportunity, as the words "sins deserve" imply that we deserve judgment - so why does God hold back? Because when He looks at you, He doesn't see "sins," He sees you. That's why He won't treat you as your sins deserve - because you are not your sins. You are not your mistakes. God sees so much more than that when He looks at you. You are not defined by the past. God sees the difference that He can make in your life by helping you to move forward, and so He went up to the cross so that there could be a difference between what "we" and "our sins" deserve - that's love. As for us, our debt was paid by Him on the cross, so we don't have to live in these sins anymore. We can move forward and find healing from our wounds, and even if we don't, we can know that we are so valuable to God that when He looks at us, He doesn't see us for our wounds - He sees us. He sees you. You are loved by God and you matter to Him.

1 Corinthians 15:10: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect." - His grace given to you, no matter who you are or what you've done, "was not without effect." God's grace HAS impacted you, it has changed you, and He sees you as clean, again no matter who you are and what you've done. The author can say that "I am what I am" because no matter who you are or what your wound looks like, the grace of God is freely offered to you to redeem your sins (Romans 3:24) and the image of God, which you were created in (Genesis 1:27) will not be tarnished in His sight. He sees you as valuable, and He wants to forgive every sin and heal every wound so that you can move forward in life and in eternity.

John 8:11: “I do not condemn you; go and sin no more.” - He does not condemn you, He forgives you SO THAT you go and sin no more. Acts 17:28: "For in Him we live and move and have our being." - so we don't have to be defined by our past - we can "have our being" in Christ instead. We don't have to live in our past either, because we can "live in Him." And "in Him we move." We can move forward and receive forgiveness as He totally changes our lives.

Acts 10:15: “Do not call anything impure if I have made it clean.” - He’s talking about you and your past. When He looks at your wound, He sees right through it all the way through to you, because He cares and He loves you, and you are valuable in His sight even if you remain wounded. 1 Corinthians 6:11: “This is what you used to be, but now God has washed you clean and justified your past.” - He has forgiven the past so that the burden can be gone and you can live out a better future for Him. This is why He says “come to me you who are weary” in Matthew 11:28, because He wants you to accept His forgiveness and move forward. Joel 2:12-13: “Even now (even after everything), return to the Lord with all your heart. Change your heart, not your image.” - so you can return to God, but you have to do it even "now" and not later on, and you have to do it "with all your heart" - hold nothing back, and be willing to learn to live with your wounds - He sees you as valuable and lovable either way, and life will go on either way, so this is something that we should learn to live with.

Live your life without things needing to magically get better (living with your wound)

What do we do when things aren’t getting better? An easy hack would be for things to get better and for us to stop being in pain. In pain from a breakup? Just date again. Struggling financially? Just win the lottery. On and on I could go, things can get better, but what if they don’t? Chances are, you’re not in control of your situation. You know what I mean. We’re all going through things that we didn’t ask for, and those things have much greater control of us than we do of them. So what do we do when it’s not getting any better?

We often want to see our wounds get better, but I think that learning to live with them is a better approach. Psalm 27:14: “Wait for the Lord. Be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord.” So it starts and ends with telling us to wait for the Lord. "When the time is right, I the Lord will do it" (Isaiah 60:22, regardless of what "it" may be in your life, whether finding healing or happiness or fulfillment or something else). Wait for Him. Maybe it doesn't have to get better. Maybe we just get better. I believe we should learn to live with our wounds without needing them to get better. If our situations define who we are, like if we’re happy when things are good and sad when things aren’t, if we win when it’s easy and lose when it’s hard, even if it’s only to a degree if we’re controlled by the situation then we’ve lost ourself. We’re not ourselves anymore, because at best we’re just whatever the situation is. It takes away the ability, it limits us - it's as if the wound, only a scab on your knee, has now become your very heart and soul, and it's infecting and killing you that you have your priorities wrong and you want temporary joy and your own preferred "healing" on this Earth more than the true healing that an eternal, everyday relationship with Jesus Christ can offer you even while you're still in pain. Ephesians 3:20 says that God’s power is at work in us and He is able to do more than we can ask or imagine. So His power is in us, whether we see it or not. The Bible also says that our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:18-20), like a container for the Holy Spirit, and it tells us that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26, Philippians 4:13). So we are meant to have God’s power, His limitless power in us. I would rather have things rough and face these wounds everyday but have God’s power in me than have things easy or be happy but without God in my life (and, more dangerously, eternity). This is why Jesus said “don’t gain the world yet lose your soul” - ironically, in the NIV version of Luke 9:25, He actually says you would “lose your very self.” So if you throw the towel in, if you need things to be a certain way, if you try to gain things or have things a certain way in this world at the expense of patience and faith, then you lose yourself and you submit to the wound as if it were God. You’re supposed to have God’s power in you, you’re supposed to trust Him when things are difficult, no matter how long they’re difficult for. You’re not supposed to give up or lose heart - Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us to throw off ALL other distractions and sins, and to keep persevering and focusing our perception and our sight (our pursuit, what we see and strive for) on Jesus - this is better than healing itself when it comes to living with these wounds.

That’s why Galatians 6:9 says to never grow weary of doing what is right, and that if you don’t give up you will be rewarded by God when the time is right. So at what point is it ok to give up? Never! At what point will God reward me (when will the wound go away)? When the time is right. If you’re just looking for the reward (for the wound to go away), then you’re missing out on God’s power in your life. 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” - I'm not meaning to attack finding healing - it's a great thing to do, but remember that "I can do all things" only if I do them "through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13, and it only says that you CAN do them, not that you WILL or WHEN you will, so be patient with the process). This all points to the fact that God needs to be the true priority. Again, I fully understand that healing is good, and we could realistically be healed (or even never wounded at all) and also have God's power at the same time, but if it doesn't work out that way then we must live with our wounds and make God our number 1 priority. God wants His power to be at work within you, that’s why we’re called containers for the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). Because God’s power lasts longer than money, relationships, our dreams, and anything else that we might pursue. Those things are nice, and having them painfully ripped away from us is why we made this, so trust me when I say that ultimately, those things are not your number 1 identity. If they are, you’re missing out on God’s power in your life.

It’s the power to live a painful life without things getting better. It’s the power to believe God when He says that when the time is right He will do it (Isaiah 60:22, regardless of what "it" may be in your life, whether finding healing or happiness or fulfillment or something else). It’s the power to wait for the Lord, to be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14). That’s the power of God - stop missing out. Let me give you an example of things not getting better, but ultimately there was a purpose for it. The example is of a young boy named Joseph, who becomes an old man through this story of his struggles as he learns to live with his wounds. In Genesis 37 we kind of get the context: Joseph has a ton of brothers, but his brothers hate him. It’s a difficult thing for him. I know some of you have siblings, and you might fight or whatever, but that’s not what this is. He had a ton of brothers, and every single one of them absolutely despised him. It was rough. Life at home was rough. Joseph had one thing going his way though: his father loved him more than his brothers. So Joseph was living a painful life, but he was clinging to this one thing that made him happy. A lot of us do this, we go on dating sites or drink or try to make money, because we want that one thing to make us happy. Here’s the thing though: Joseph’s story isn’t special because of that one thing that he had going for him, but rather because of how things turned out after he lost that one thing and things kept getting worse. As time went on, Joseph’s painful life didn’t get any better - his brothers began to hate him all the more, eventually faking his accidental death and selling him into slavery. So now Joseph is a slave in this distant land, and everyone who knew him thinks he’s dead, and probably wishes he was. He doesn’t have his dad anymore. That one thing he had, yeah even that’s gone now. He’s in a totally new place, with new people, and he’s starting over. Maybe you can relate. Not only did the pain Joseph had not get better, but it actually ended up getting worse and totally hopeless. But God. Remember those 2 words, because they’ll come up later. But God stepped in, blessing Joseph in Egypt, eventually turning him into an influential figure who saved many lives through his wisdom during famines. Now it might look like I’ve ruined the whole point, right? Things weren’t supposed to get better, yet now they have? No, that’s not what happened. Things didn’t get better. Joseph still doesn’t have his dad, actually he’s not even happy in Egypt, he’s just successful. And if you look at it, Joseph didn’t even do anything for himself, it was the saving of OTHER people that made him special and successful. So he’s still in pain and wounded, things haven't gotten better magically, he's still without what he once knew, and yet he can make an impact and help others. That’s the truth here today, that even when we’re down we can help others. Here’s what makes the end of Joseph’s story so cool: he meets up with his family in Egypt and they all move there, and this is how the Israelites ended up in Egypt.

Eventually, Joseph dies and the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt for 430 years. So Joseph is literally dead and yet the pain hasn’t stopped. But don’t look at the pain, look at the purpose. Joseph had a purpose, and he served it without things getting better because they didn’t need to. Things didn’t get better for the Israelites in Egypt, but there was a purpose. The purpose was for freedom. God eventually freed them from the Egyptians, but that’s not the freedom I’m talking about, I’m not talking about things getting better or whatever we might have in mind. I’m talking about being free from needing things to get better. If you’re focused on the pain, you’re missing out on the purpose. Romans 8:28 says that in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him. Look at the wording. In all things. In every pain and everything we go through. Whatever the problem is, if it’s a part of all things, then God is doing what? He’s working. Working. Present tense. It’s not done, it’s not finished, it’s still a work in progress. We’re not healed, we’re healing. It’s ok to not be ok. God is working. It’s ok to still be in pain. God is working. It’s ok if things haven’t gotten better, it’s ok if you’re in pain, it’s ok if you feel like God’s work and plan for your life isn’t what you wanted it to be because GOD IS STILL WORKING! One more time, look at the wording. Who’s He working for? Those who love Him. Joseph chose to love God during his painful life. He chose to love God even after things got worse and worse. Joseph never gave up on loving God, he learned to live with his wounds, and look what happened. God was working in Joseph’s life and He’s working in yours. Joseph loved God through the pain, even when things didn’t get better. Will you? That’s the art of living a painful life without needing things to get better - that's what it looks like to live with your wounds.

Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." So we can’t see it, we don’t actually have the breakthrough yet, we’re still in pain and wounded, we just have the hope that things will get better. All we have is hope in something we can’t even see (breakthrough, things getting better, etc.) - but God. I can’t see deliverance, things haven’t gotten better - but faith. I have nothing the way I planned or wanted it to be, but I have faith that God is at work. I’m still in pain, I wish things were different, I wish the past was different or I wish I was different - but God. He has a plan, He has a purpose for my life, and I’m choosing to believe in what I can’t personally see. But God. I’m going to love God, even when the things I’m going through don’t make sense. I’m going to stop basing my life around myself and the things I have, and I’m going to start basing it around God. That’s why it says in Proverbs 3:5 to "Trust God with all your heart and not lean on your own understanding" - it’s easy to trust Him when things are easy, but when things get tough we tend to lean on ourselves. But God. God is still working, so don’t lean on your own opinions or understanding of things, rather lean on Him even in the most painful seasons, and trust His plan all the way, living your life for Him, even if that means living with your wounds. Romans 8:18 says that "our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" - learn to live for God and live out His Words in the Bible in ALL that you do in your everyday life, even if that means living with your wounds, and know that you will live forever. with Him in a place where "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Learn to live with your wounds on Earth and you will live with Jesus forever.

Acts 17:28 teaches that "In Him we live and move and have our being." So it's only "in Him" that we live. We must live with these wounds. "Live." Not every prayer will be answered before you say amen - it took the Israelites 400 years to get out of slavery and hopelessness (which our wounds represent) in Egypt, but if you've ever heard the names "Jesus" or "Moses" or "King David" then you would know that, those names having come from that story, the waiting was worth it.

Hebrews 10:38: "The righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back." - so don't shrink back into merely "believing" - actually LIVE by your faith, and in this way you will learn to live with your wounds in ALL things (Philippians 4:13). 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” - It’s so easy to focus on the brokenness and pain that we face in our lives and on the things that we don’t have, but it’s important to not lose sight of God, who will never give up on us. If we live our lives in this world trying to get what we can see - success, fame, and comfort - then we will miss out on what we can’t see - a stronger faith, character, and willingness and discipline to do what’s right instead of what’s easy. So don’t pursue or focus on what you can see - the pain you’re in right now, the false riches and comforts of this world - rather focus on the unseen benefit that enduring pain and discipline in this life will bring you. You can’t see God, but He’s there, and the unseen is eternal, while these things we can see (pain/feelings and conditions/wounds, sins and false riches, etc.) - the seen things are temporary and they fade away, and we don't want to fade away with them. Live for Him, doing what’s right, not what’s easy or what you're tempted to do in the moment, and live your visible life for the invisible benefit for those that live for Jesus (the unseen but eternal) and for those who embrace His healing.

1 Corinthians 7:17: "Each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them." - so learn to live your everyday life, wounded or not, for Jesus Christ in all that you do. It's going to be ok. If it doesn't go away, remember that neither does Jesus. Learn to live with your wounds. However, there is no denying that we can find healing in Jesus Christ, and so, willing to live with our wounds, it is also wise to pursue healing that comes through Him.

Try to find healing through Jesus Christ

We're talking today about living with our wounds and scars because it's not always guaranteed that we will find instant healing, or even healing at all on Earth - Jesus's life on Earth ended on the cross, His greatest pain. He died in His greatest pain. Who's to say the same won't go for His followers? You may bring your pain to the grave, but you won't have to bring it to Heaven, for "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4). That being said, just as our Earthly healing isn't guaranteed, there's also no guarantee that we WON'T find healing. So it's not a bad idea to pursue it.

So where do we find healing, then? How should we search? Jesus Christ. It's that simple. "I am the way" (John 14:6). "By His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5) - He, His wounds on the cross (endured by Him out of His love for us), this is "the way" to "healing." Funny thing is, you already have it. The crucifixion already happened. How then could any teaching of that ancient event make an impact RIGHT NOW in your life and in your heart? Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." - so the Words that God spoke in the Bible are "alive" - of course literature could never physically live, so the point being made is that these Words can be "alive" and "active" in your everyday life and in your heart, and that they can change your "life" in "live time" (in this "present age" Titus 2:11-13 basically "today" no matter where you're at in your life). To say this about the Words of the Bible is very similar to the teaching that, though physically dead in His human body, Jesus is our "living hope" (1 Peter 1:3). So this is all about the LIFE that you can have in Christ, the life that your heart can experience after being so numb and wounded and dead inside. John 10:10: "I (Jesus speaking) have come that they may have life, and life to the full." So we don't have to be dead anymore, our hearts can come back to life. Even to the one who is dead in this way, so wounded and so far from God, it is said in Romans 4:17 that "God gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not." - maybe your heart is a "not" right now, maybe your healing is  "not" - God can raise it from the depths of hopelessness and call it into being BAM JUST LIKE THAT! if it's what He has planned. But notice that it's "God" who "gives life to the dead" - so only He can call our healing into being, and it's only through God that we will find the life in Christ that we need to really, truly find healing. This is why it's important that we turn to God when wounded instead of to other things. "Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always" (1 Chronicles 16:11). So look to Him, not to other things, and don't just do this when you're hurt or in need but "always" - if you only every come to God when you're in need, then you are letting yourself form the habit of distancing yourself from God that you ONLY ever turn to Him in times of need - this isn't true life, it's eternal death, and we need to have the boldness and the discipline to do what it takes in our everyday lives to get closer to Jesus as we pursue healing through Him. Thinking back to Hebrews 4:12, notice that the Word of God "is sharper than any sword" - you don't need "professional help" any more than you need "creational help." God created you and your innermost being and all that is attached to it (Psalm 139:13-14), and He alone knows just what you need (Matthew 6:32). This isn't a shot at therapy, which is great - I'm just making the point that God is your creator and sustainer, so you should "look to Him and seek His strength always" FIRST. He, prayer and reflecting on the Words of the Bible to find healing, should be your first choice in trying to find healing. Again in Hebrews 4:12, the Bible "penetrates" (meaning it makes it's way into) your "soul and spirit" and it "divides them" - it makes changes. Maybe you have an arrogant spirit. Maybe you have a spirit that is convincing you that lust or some other sin is ok. When you read the Words of the Bible, they will make your way into your soul and spirit and they will divide what must be divided and multiply what must be multiplied - God will work in you, within your heart, to do the things that He wants to do. Know that this also applies to the "soul" - maybe your soul is damned to eternal death, but imagine the divisions to that temporary standing that this verse would make "You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). 1 verse later, in verse 4, Jesus says to remain in His love - it's not just the Words of the Bible that we heal you, but truly leaning on God and remaining "in" His love, in submission to His Words in all that you do. Perhaps your spirit and soul seem crushed and you don't think you can find healing. Remember that the Word of God penetrates and divides our souls and spirits, and His Words are "alive and active" and are at work in your life and heart even in this moment. Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." - so when your heart is broken and your spirit is weak, cry out to God and take your strength in Him because He wants to help you find healing. Psalm 62:8: "Trust in Him at all times (even through this), pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." - so take refuge in Him and cry out to Him as you find healing. Acts 17:28: "In Him we live and move and have our being." - you have to live. You have to move, and move forward. You aren't defined by loss - you have your being in Him. So go. Live. Move. He loves you. Find healing in Him. It takes time. Pray.

Again, Acts 17:28 teaches us that "In Him we live and move and have our being." So this idea of "searching inwardly" is stupid - don't search the fallen creation, search the flawless creator (He also doesn't have a diploma and His therapy is also free, which is why I highly recommend praying often, which is His therapy). "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). So yes, "I can do all things" but it's only "through Christ who gives me strength." All our searchings and changes in this time of woundedness need to be "in Christ." It is only "in Him" that we truly live (feel, have life again after being wounded) and move (moving forward from this) and have our being (He is our true identity). And so any "new ventures" will just be distractions, and not only that - you're not ready for them. YOU'RE WOUNDED! It's like an injured fighter signing up for another fight - you'll lose again. You don't have the right mindset or energy or state of mental health to take anything new right now - the self-help gurus, if they aren't so offended that they're still reading, are by this point plotting my death for saying these things. But what they teach isn't the truth. "I am the truth" (John 14:6). The only way to truly live and move, to have our being and find life after being wounded, it's only through Jesus Christ. "I am the life" (John 14:6). You may have noticed that I've cited the verse 3 different times. Here it is in full. John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." - so it's only through Jesus Christ that we can truly come to God and find healing.

Jeremiah 17:13-14: "Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise." - we know in the Bible that those going to Heaven are "written in the book of Life" (Revelation 21:27). So then, to be "written in the dust" like this passage says, likely implies the opposite - and it's for those who "forsake God and turn away from Him." This is why, even when we're not hurt, it's so important to lean on God and His love and His teachings as our number 1, to "look to the Lord and His strength, and seek His face always" (1 Chronicles 16:11). It's only when we "turn away" like the passage said, only when a relationship (for example) becomes more important than our faith, only then do wounds come in. You might object to that, hear me out. I had convinced myself that God was still my number 1 when I was with her, and I was probably right I was a pretty good kid back then (much better than now, I confess). But if losing that relationship made me lose my mind that badly, and if the seasons that followed included me compromising the faith and the Words of the Bible so badly, then at the very least God wasn't ENOUGH of a priority - He is constant, we can always count on Him, so it naturally becomes tempting to dispose of Him. He'll always forgive you, but your longings for instant pleasure want to be met with lust in THAT EXACT moment, and so you sin (apply this example to all things). If we want to find healing, we have to take a totally different view of things. We have to see and TREAT (in our everyday lives, in how we live including in the little things) God like He's GOD, like we CAN'T lose Him - because truth be told, we can't. And if we have Him, we have all that we need. So "heal me, and I will be healed, save me, and I will be saved, for YOU are the one I praise." - see, it's only "through Christ who gives me strength" that "I can do all things" (Philippians 4:13). Only God can really, truly heal your heart and save your soul for eternity. But how do we achieve this? We search for Him in all things, we lean on Him in all things, and we make sure that HE is the one that we really, truly praise and prioritize. Jeremiah 29:12-13: "I hear you when you pray to me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart." - so He DOES hear you when you pray, and you WILL find Him and find healing through Him, whether that's just in Heaven or even on Earth as well - but are you really, truly seeking after Him with all your heart? Are you really willing to submit to Him in all that you do, again from the heart in your everyday life? Bring Him your broken heart, follow Him with all of it, and He will heal you (Psalm 34:18). Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." - so God is the one guiding our direction, making our paths straight. But sometimes that's a path that doesn't go where we wanted. Sometimes it leads straight through hardships and wounds. But either way, if you trust Him with ALL your heart and hold nothing back, even in times like these, and if you lean not on what you can understand and how you feel about the setbacks and defeats and waiting and times of not finding healing, if you submit to Him in all you do in all things (living your daily life according to the Words of the Bible), He will establish the path even if it's hard to appreciate where it goes - and the path leads straight to His eternal healing (Revelation 21:4) regardless of how long it takes us to get there (again remember that Jesus died in His greatest pain but now sits at the right hand of God, and follow His example by putting God first and following Him and living for Him in all that you do).

Remember earlier that I said that God is truly all that we need. Psalm 23:1: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing. He leads me besides green pastures." - if God is the leader and the shepherd and you follow as His sheep, then you lack nothing. Nothing you're busy or tempted with or longing for is greater than Him. You can lie down in a sheep's favorite meal, green pastures, yet eat nothing - because He is all that matters. Pursue Him as the shepherd and leader of your life. In Luke 9:25 Jesus asks the question “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose their soul or their very self?” So look, whatever you’re chasing these days, even if it’s the whole world and everyone in it, what good is it to have these things if it not only costs you your soul, but also your very self because this is who God made you to be, this is who you are, so when you gain other things and lose God, you don't just lose your soul, you also lose your "very self" because this is who He made you to be. Isaiah 53:5: "By His wounds we are healed." - we have already found healing from our sins and mistakes, and we are no able to come to God in Heaven and receive His life (John 14:6, if you think about it) - this should be enough for us, even when our wounds hurt the most. Keep the perspective that God is all that we need and that when we have Him, we have all that we need, no matter how painful things are, and no matter how long.

A lot of us feel like something is missing, like we just have a hole and we're trying to fill it in. A lot of us are trying to fill in that hole with a relationship or with pornography or at least a desire for a relationship, maybe for others it's trying to find friends and fit in and have good standing within the community. For others it's all about making money or having a good job. These are pursuits. And yet, having pursued them and chased them, somehow it is never enough? This is why in John 4:13-14 Jesus says "Anyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again. Whoever drinks the water that I give them will never thirst. The water that I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." So these things that we pursue, some of them are good, but ultimately none of them can fulfill us. They will all leave us thirsty again. Only God can fulfill us. The water, the reason behind this baptism, the way of life that He wants to offer us, this is all that we need, and it wells up like water in a well, it wells up to eternal life. So whether we rise or fall here on Earth, we know that by following God we will find eternal life and find our fulfillment. When Jesus Christ was crucified, it meant He lost on Earth. He never got married, He wasn't rich, people didn't like Him (they actually crucified Him) - so all these things that we pursue, he found none of them - and yet He received eternal life because He followed God. So this is what it looks like to follow God, even up to the cross, where "by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Luke 9:23: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themself and take up their cross daily and follow me." Whoever WANTS to be my disciple. God won't force you to follow Him. And it's daily. Deny yourself, follow God instead, take up your cross DAILY. So deny yourself and your habits/desires - they can't fulfill you. Choose to be His disciple, take up your cross, whatever it may be, each and every day. This is how we find fulfilling, eternal life, and it's only found through Jesus Christ. No other god could compare to this. This is a way of life, and this way of life is life itself, and it is how we will find healing through God.

Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” I read this passage figuratively - it doesn't literally mean that tomorrow morning your pain will go away and you will be happy. It says that this will occur "in the morning" - what makes it morning? A sunrise. A new day. Eventually, when the time is right (and this is more than a literal day of course), God will set the sun into motion in your life. New things will come, the pain of the past will wash away, and there will be "showers of blessing, in season" Ezekiel 34:26. In season. "When the time is right, I the Lord will do it" (Isaiah 60:22). This can be painful. Sometimes our pain lasts an entire lifetime - but this is nothing in the face of eternity. And "blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). Romans 8:18: "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." - so if the pain that we face now (emotionally, mentally, physically, in terms of loss, in terms of fighting temptation, heartache, whatever it may be) - if these things are nothing in the face of eternity, then we can't fall when faced with these things, otherwise our eternity becomes them. Give into depression, and you become depressed - it's that simple. Stand firm, knowing that you are blessed for going through and growing through these things in this lifetime. 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - so by going through and growing these things, it proves your faith to be genuine, and it reveals Christ in you (and glorifies Him). Want to play football? You get hit. Want to follow Christ eternally? Stuff happens, and if you fall because of this then you were never standing or walking with Christ to begin with - but that's the beauty of God - His message to you is not one of failure, but of the opportunity to succeed. So get back up, take step one, and follow God in all things forever. Find healing through Him.

Psalm 23:4: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, because God walks with me.” - it says “even though I walk,” and “God walks with me” because God KNOWS that you go through things and He wants to BE THERE WITH YOU! Water often represented anxiety or depression or turmoil in the Bible because there were anxious storms, depressing droughts, and unnerving floods - yet Jesus told Peter to walk on the water. He knows you go through these things, and He wants to guide you through them. Let Him. Search for Him in the things that you watch and listen to and think about and pursue. Proverbs 17:22: "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." - there's a lot of medicine in this world, but positivity and letting things go is "good" medicine - God wants to give you REAL healing. Psalm 42:11: "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." - this is DEEP, having a "soul" that is "disturbed" and not only that but also "within" you. This could represent depression, and it could represent all the feelings of doubt and negativity period that we as people will experience in life. So what do you do? "Yet" praise - things aren't easy, but you praise Him through that storm, as you pursue finding healing through Him.

Psalm 40:2: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." What stands out to me about this verse is the details. Slime. Mud. This isn't a stereotypical way of describing what God has saved us from. Christians often talk about being saved from Hell and all this other stuff, but slime? Mud? Why? Because those things are very easy to get caught in, like quicksand. And in this life, many of us are stuck. That's why the verse said that God gives us a firm place to stand - He wants to give us the foundation that we lack. When it comes to our addictions and bad habits and mistakes and even just our mental and emotional problems, He doesn't want us to be stuck in these things and going back and forth, but rather He wants to place us on the rock that is Jesus Christ so that we are out of the pit ALTOGETHER! That's why He sets your feet on the rock like it says in Psalm 40:2, and He gives you a firm place to stand. But you have to act on this, He won't make you. Joshua 24:15: "Choose this day whom you will serve, whether God or another." - so make a decision TODAY: lust, or God? Put yourself first, or God? Choose this day who you will serve. Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" - God wants to protect you from the things that leave us hurt and wounded. Matthew 6:21: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So live your life well for God and keep Him at the center of your desires and goals and entertainment, because these things determine where you go ("there your heart will be" - is your heart going to Heaven, or Hell? - how you live during the time that remains will be a massive indicator of this). Luke 9:23-24: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” - so if you try to keep things the way you’re comfortable, the way you’re used to, then you lose all of it eternally, but if you’re willing to do this work, to deny yourself and follow Him instead in the daily - if you really want to be His disciple and you bear a cross to show it, then you will have it all eternally, having given it all to Him on this Earth as we are called to.

Psalm 103:2-3: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." - he heals us. Psalm 147:3: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Proverbs 4:20-22: "My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body." - so again with life, if we listen to the Words of God (the Bible) and if we are intentional to live them out as we pursue healing through Jesus Christ, then we know that these Words "are life to those who find them" - so seek them out (read the Bible, pray, etc.) as you pursue healing here today. Jeremiah 29:13: "You WILL find me when you seek me with all your heart." And so we do this, we make this pursuit of the Lord "with all our heart" - we "pay attention" (think back to the Proverbs 4 passage), and so we "turn our ear to His Words" and we "do not let them out of our sight," we "keep them within our hearts" because we know that they "bring health" to one's "whole body" of which your heart and mind are a part. So the Bible, Jesus Christ, will bring healing to you. Psalm 119:9: "How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word." Psalm 119:105: "Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path." - lamps aren't for your feet, so clearly this is a figure of speech illustrating that the Bible will show you how to walk with God in your everyday life. In John 17:17 Jesus says that "your Word (He was talking to God) is truth" - so it's not just that the Bible spoke of the truth or was true - it literally IS truth. John 14:6: "I am the Way and the TRUTH and the Life, and nobody comes to the Father except through me." - 1 Timothy 2:4: "God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" - so coming to know Jesus ("the truth") is how we are saved. In the same way, come to know and live out the Words of the Bible, which are also truth (this is what Jesus did during His life on Earth) - this is how we are "saved." John 8:31-32: "If you hold to my teaching (like if you actually live it out), you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." - healing is available here today.

Isaiah 40:29: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." - so when you're not strong enough, when you can't live through or get rid of the wound on your own, know that we have a great God who watches over us and loves us and will take care of us. He wants to help you to find healing today. That's why, when we're not strong enough, He gives us grace (on the cross and in our everyday lives for our sins). He increases your power and gives you the strength. That's why, day by day by the grace of God, we can keep going, and we can keep fighting through our pain and fighting for a better future, even when we're not strong enough. 2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness." - so when we're weak, we lean on Him. Joel 2:12: "Even now (even after everything and from the depths of temptation), return to the Lord with all your heart." - so you can return, but do it “now” and “with all your heart” (hold nothing back). Mark 2:17: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” - God wants you to come as you are, not hide because you’re not who you should be. God is gracious enough to meet us where we are in our sicknesses and sins, and He wants to heal us. But we have to respond. He has called us to repentance - answer the call and move. Wherever you’re at, that’s where He wants to be to meet you. He healed the sick, the weak and the outcast. So it’s ok to not be ok. He met them exactly where they were. He didn’t heal the sick at hospitals, He did it on the side of the road where they had been left for dead. He met them exactly where they were - He feels the same way for you. So lean on Him when you're not strong enough.

1 Peter 2:24: “He Himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” - so Jesus Himself went up to the cross to take that specific wound of sin away from us. What makes you think He doesn't want to take this wound away too? No matter what healing you might look like, understand that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He was there for the Israelites and Jews and all people back then, He's there for us right now and, as we try to find healing through Him, He will always be there for us "forever" no matter what we go through and no matter what it looks like, we know that God is "with us, our refuge and strength, ever-present during our times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). God lives in us, He can truly bring us the healing that we need, and He can bring us to that promised land, just as He did for the Israelites. "When the time is right, I the Lord will do it" (Isaiah 60:22). Ezekiel 34:26: "There WILL (not we believe, there WILL, we KNOW that there WILL) be showers of blessing, in season." And so we trust God's timing and His provision, because we know that He can bring us healing. Philippians 4:19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." - only God can really truly meet our needs. I love how it said "all" your needs - only God can and WILL fulfill you. Allow Him to bring you healing, as our time draws near to a close today.

Here's the most important verse that you'll read in this entire piece - Psalm 73:26: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Your "flesh" represents your skin, basically your humanity (elsewhere in the Bible it represents the sinful work Satan does in our everyday lives, but I do not think this is one of those times). So if your flesh "fails," if you remain wounded and scarred, consider this: wounds and scars physically take place on our "flesh." So God is trying to send us a message here. What is it? That "Your flesh and your heart may fail, but God is the strength of your heart and your portion forever" (Psalm 73:26). So you "may fail." God admits it right there, your flesh may fail (meaning you still may be wounded, for a time), and your heart also "may fail" - you might still struggle and face heartbreak. But even then, even when you fail and ae hurt and can't seem to overcome, you have to realize that the strength of your heart isn't based on how strong YOU feel, or on if YOU feel wounded - "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26). It's not about finding a new relationship or new job or whatever it is that hurt you, it's not about unmaking a mistake that either you or someone else made - the true strength of your heart isn't based on the things that we as humans would see and pursue (for "my ways and thoughts are higher than your ways and thoughts" Isaiah 55:9 and we know that Jesus is "the way" in John 14:6) - it's based on God. How's your faith? I'd rather be wounded with God than healthy without Him, because that health will perish, and not only am I referencing eternity, but also this world - what if you DID get hurt? It's much harder to navigate without faith. Again, like I said, it is better (when the 2 are in opposition, which is NOT always the case) to have God than to have the temporary things/people/statuses/feelings of this world that we like to gratify ourselves with in order to be "happy." Remember that Jesus, the greatest man ever, died bloody red on the cross while sinners surrounded him in joy. Outward and temporary happiness isn't the way to Heaven - "I am the Way" (John 14:6, the words of Jesus). This is why the Apostle Paul (a man who gave up everything he knew and all the respect he once had to endanger himself for the sake of ministering for Christ) describes himself in 2 Corinthians 6:10 as “having nothing, yet possessing everything.” And he’s right. It’s better to have nothing, to be alone and have shattered dreams, yet in your heart, your character, your faith you have everything, because you have God and when you have Him he is everything. Lamentations 3:24: “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” - if you have God, you have everything, and it is worth waiting for Him because even if you have a broken heart, even if you have wounds, we know that when Jesus comes back and rewards us (if we choose to follow Him from this point on in our everyday lives), we know that it will have been worth it. Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the Lord; be strong, take heart, and wait on the Lord.” - the verse both begins and ends with “wait on the Lord.” So be strong, take heart, wait for Him. Whether it's a relationship, or an opportunity, or whatever it is in life - wait for Him. If your relationship with God and your trust in Him was authentic, the delay would not get in the way. Porn because you were tired of waiting for God's plan wouldn't get in the way. If it did, and you fell along the way, then truthfully you were never standing to begin with... But that's ok. Get back up and take step one. Be strong. Take heart. Wait for God. He is what we need, He's the Shepherd, the Portion. If something else causes us to stumble, then we have made that thing to be god in our everyday lives. This is idolatry in the 21st century. We're no better than the ancients, who worshiped cows and wood and stone. But like I said, it doesn't have to be this way. Make the adjustment and prioritize God, because if He is ALL THAT WE HAVE, like when Job had EVERYTHING you could want and then LOST IT ALL - Job was alright, because he had God. God is our "portion," and thought that might not feel like much as we live with wounds and try to pursue healing - we know that, eternally, this portion is worth it. So, if the time calls for it, leave out all the rest and take pride in the Lord Jesus Christ being your portion.

Isaiah 53:5: “He was crushed for our sins, and by His wounds we are healed.” - 2 Corinthians 5:15: “He died for us so that we can live for Him.” so find life through Jesus Christ today, find healing through Him, for He says "I am the Life" and "the only way" (John 14:6).

John 1:4: "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." - John 10:10: "The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life, and life to the full." - so Satan is trying to steal from us, whether it be our purity or happiness or purpose, and he is destroying and killing us - causing death. But Jesus came so that we would have life - mission accomplished we're all alive - but now life to the full. Not just alive, but really truly living, no longer dead inside. Not just a pulse, but a purpose. True life. Life to the full. And it lights up the darkness. This is why in Psalm 23:4 it says that "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you walk with me." So God walks with you in the darkness. The real, true life that Jesus Christ has for you, no matter where you are at, this is what will light up the darkness. This next step, this purpose, is literally the light of all mankind. That's why, to the person living for Jesus in all that they do, Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16: "You are the light of the world. Let your light shine, so that others may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." So shine that light, live that new life for Christ, because it can also save those around you. Deuteronomy 30:15: "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction." - the table is set "today" in every little thing that you do or don't do - don't miss out on truly finding life in Christ by living for Him. - Joshua 24:15: "Choose this day whom you will serve, whether God or another." - and now we are that part of the process where we come full circle to help others with these things, even if we're still struggling in them.

Help others (a full-circle moment, and you can be at your lowest when you do this by the way so don't overlook it if you're still hurt and feel incapable of helping)

John 13:34: "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Matthew 10:8: "Freely you have received; freely give." - at this point, you may still be wounded and in immense pain - know that it is still possible to help others from that position of weakness (though obviously much less likely, and you should continue to seek growth, help, and your own healing through Jesus Christ). The point is that, having learned what you've learned here, and having experienced God in the way that you have, you are now better equipped to help others with their similar (or even same) struggles with their wounds and with all else that they face - we all struggle in this life. Being wounded probably wasn't helped by the fact that your support system (or lack of support system) couldn't protect you from that wound (or, at least, couldn't prevent it). So go out into the world and be that support system for someone else.

Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." - "all" the world, including supporting people just by sending them a message and checking in on them and being there for them even when you're busy. Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” But why? So that others may "see" the pattern you set for them and "glorify God" by following it. You can't walk in a dark house, so you turn the light on. In the same way, how will those who don't understand come to Christ unless you give them a light? Romans 10:14: "How can they hear without someone preaching to them?" People won't hear unless you preach to them. Remember this: a lamp never talks, it just shines. Let your light shine through your ACTIONS and in your everyday life, habits, thoughts, feelings and all. Let your light shine, so they may glorify God. A lamp doesn't absorb the heat for itself, rather it uses the heat to give light to those in the room. In the same way, we don't hold back when it's hard - no, burn it all. Get uncomfortable, do the difficult things that God wants you to do. Put your light to use so others may be saved and so God may be glorified. And remember that the verse said "all the world." Galatians 6:10: "As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people." - all people, no discrimination, just as Christ did not discriminate on the cross. 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction.” - be prepared even when it's "out of season." Even when it's not Sunday. Even when they're hostile or don't believe what you believe and don't think the way you do. Be prepared. They may ask, why should I believe? How do you know He exists? Why does He allow evil? Be prepared but remember that ultimately you preach God, so it's His strength and not your own that will reach others. Romans 2:21: “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?” - if you don’t practice what you preach, even if you preach a good thing, then you're a Pharisee and are blocking others from God. Psalm 78:1: “Hear my teachings, listen to my Words.” - learn from God in order to teach about Him.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." So loving God, loving your neighbor, THIS is what that looks like. Be patient (both with others and with God's plan for your life). Be kind. Don't envy or be arrogant but be completely humble, gentle, patient and kind. Don't seek your own good, but put God and others first. Don't be easily angered but be patient. Forgive others - He forgives us, so in the same way be kind and compassionate and forgive others. Love "always perseveres" - this stuff is difficult especially when you're busy and irritable - God is calling us to try our best and persevere in living out this love He commands. When people are annoying, persevere. When tempted, persevere. God is love (1 John 4:8), so being more Christlike consists of living out these qualities. Ephesians 5:1-2: "Follow God’s example and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a sacrifice to God." - give something up and make sacrifices like Christ did on the cross. Hebrews 10:24-25: “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” Daniel 12:3: "Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." - we will shine eternally if we do these things, helping others and living for God in all that we do. Thanks for reading.