The Hurt & The Healer

Pain. It’s that one thing that we all know, all about. 

In fact, it’s been one of our very closest friends. Maybe you would never describe it as a good friend, but you might say it’s been the constant, the consistent, the dependable one. 

Every moment, of every waking hour, pain has been a part of the story. 

It touches and changes the lives of every person you have and will ever know. It is one of the most powerful and world shaking contributing factors. Because of pain, we run to doctors, therapists, codependent relationships and coping mechanisms. Pain is what drives us to do the unthinkable, to hurt others, or to self destruct. Pain is the hurt. So, is there a healer? 

I wonder if your story was ever similar to mine. I was born into the world, with immediate circumstances working against my good and stealing my safety, joy and peace. But then I became a child. With childlike dreams. I had all my ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Laughter and joy were things I was fond of and wanted more in my life. I wanted to fall in love, and have a family one day. The goals of the midwest, to have a family and have some money and maybe, just maybe be a good husband and father one day. Then I began to grow into a man.

I would then become aware of the harsh realities of a world chock full of wonder, excitement, sorrow and disappointment. I learned the concepts and meanings of things like depression, cancer, and divorce. I would see and hear of the atrocities of this complicated little world. I too, just like you, would become acquainted with hurt. 

You and me, as different as we may be, will always share the ground zero of pain. We may share nothing else, but we both know the feeling of a tear falling down the side of our face. 

But we have an unimaginable moment to choose. Is there a purpose and promise in the pain we’ve come to know so well? These losses we’ve taken on the scoreboard of life, all of the mistakes and screw ups, the tragedy and chaos, could it really be worth it? This is the largest question you and I could ever approach and choose to answer: Is pain redeemable? 

If you know Jesus or have heard of Him, then you have likely heard of the term, the “healer.” 

Christianity teaches us amidst the pain we have all come to know, we also have a choice and opportunity to know just as well, maybe even better, the Healer. But what does it mean, and what could it look like to commune and know and walk and talk with the Healer? What does the healer have to offer as a stabilizer or antidote to our pain? If you have been a Christian for most of your life, or only the past few minutes, I want you to remind yourself or come to understand right now, that healing and redemption is the biggest promise, reality and hope you could ever cling to or know in this life. It is not a fleeting feeling, a nice notion or helpful concept. Knowing the healer is to know what it feels like to…heal. I need you to know something. If you are dying of cancer, or going through a divorce, or battling depression or feeling entirely owned by anxiety, there is a healer for you. And this healer, He is madly in love with you and insanely interested in every part of your being. He can make up for all the ways someone let you down, beat you down, and ruined your ability to trust again. If you have been abused, used, taken advantage of… there is a healer for you. And this healer, He is not disconnected from the most vulnerable parts of your story, He is the trustworthy one you can, again, find vulnerability and safety in. It’s time to let the healer in. 

These are the two most powerful things in your life since day one. This is how you got here, to this place and moment right now. The hurt, and the healer. And while the hurt and the healer seem like contradictory realities, Jesus has offered us this crazy and out of this world hope and question to you and me…will we get back up, and faithfully live this life through the lens of the hurt and the healer? This is the hard part, friend. Because in this, we have to accept and realize we do not know what tomorrow brings. We do not know what the lab results will be. We do not know if we will ever find reconciliation with that individual. We don’t know if the meds will kick in, and our head will clear. This is the wonder of pain. Tomorrow, we do not know how pain will fit into the schedule, rhythm or season. But we can, we can lean into the healer. Because He’s right there. When I open my eyes, He’s living and active in my story now. 

Jesus did not leave you and me to fend for ourselves at the ground zero of pain. He arrived there, too. Just look at the cross. Jesus stepped right into the bog, the mess and the sorrow. You see, you’ve had a friend in Jesus all along. Whether you knew it or not, worshiped Him for it or not, Jesus was right there. In the tears, the brokenness, the death and the dying. The moments you’ve smiled the biggest and the moments you are sore from crying, Jesus was there. Right, there. 

So, no matter how painful yesterday was, or how tough tomorrow may be, you have the greatest and most magnificent promise beating inside your soul. Your God is engaged with your thoughts and feelings and questions. He holds no disappointment in your story. He has never counted the mistakes you made. But He did count the tears. Every single one of them. So if you have this deep rooted idea or belief that God is a far away deity that can’t stand your baggage, it’s time to let go of that thinking. He came, and felt your pain. He came, and heard your wonders. And He came, and died for your imperfection. 

Let me speak this over you with all the passion I possibly can put into these words. There are no limits and no holding back in the hope and joy God has given to you. If you know Him, you carry the capacity to overcome and work through and endure and be steadfast in any trail that knocks on your door, or breaks the door down right in front of you. Please, stop living like the hurt is your only thing to count on. You have a healer. A redeemer. A reckless and beautiful King you can count on. 

And so, again, if you have an entire life ahead of you, or you are breathing your last breaths, you have a story that has been carried and valued and protected by a Savior. 

Go, and live. The best is truly yet to come in the realities of the hurt and the accolades of the healer.