Here’s a little real life moment for ya’, lest y’all think everything is honky dory for all your peeps when the reality is many are hurting and secretly working through really hard stuff.
My heart’s been pretty raw the last few weeks. There are many reasons and sometimes that’s just the way it is. One event after another hits us where it hurts and we can either curl up and hide, rebel and fight, or choose hard slow steps with God leading the way.
I’ve curled up. I’ve rebelled. And I’m also choosing hard steps.
I’m falling and need more than my faith encouraged.
Because trauma triggers continue and anxiety remains, I’m choosing more EMDR therapy to work on additional layers of healing.
It’s scary to put this reality out there but I’m doing it for one reason. To reveal that we all need help and we all need more than what we can make of ourselves.
Too many are fighting through the hard believing they have to muster up enough Christian courage to make things all right.
Too many are waiting for God to do things (in an instant) that God is asking them to do (over a long-haul and with long-suffering and perseverance while trusting Him).
For those who are scared to admit they need help because maybe it means they’ve failed at faith. It doesn’t. Sometimes our bodies need more rest, more nourishment, more healing, and more help.
It’s OK to need help and It’s OK to seek it. It’s OK to seek God’s way of helping through more than just reading scripture or saying one more prayer.
God uses people to bring healing and wholeness and sometimes that comes through counseling, therapy, EMDR, medicine, recovery programs, or other means.
If you are a man or woman who shudders at the thought of keeping up pretense one day longer, I want you to hear this, you are where you are and it has not caused God to love you one iota less. You can bare yourself before God and live well.
You can strip the weighty cloak of false living and and put on the robes of God’s truth and love.
When you admit your need for help and surrender your need to Him, you’ll find grace and goodness.
Give Him your honest heart and receive what your honestly good God has for you.
There is hope and help for healing. Don’t let pride keep you from experiencing it. Don’t carry that burden of looking better than you feel on the inside any longer. If you need more than prayer, consider other ways God uses to bring about healing for hearts and souls.
It doesn’t always look like what we think.
PRAYER:
GOD, I’ve tried to hide myself form you. I’m coming clean and asking you to give me courage. I’m laying down the mask and trusting that your love will not disappear.
I’m afraid that if I ____________ then you will________.
Speak truth to that fear today. Remind me of what you say and who you are. Let my faith be bigger than this fear. You are beautiful and good.
Amen.
What is EMDR?
EMDR is a natural way of releasing trauma from the brain. If you’ve dealt with significant single traumas or complex and compiled stresses that cause a trauma response in your boy, EMDR is a fantastic way of receiving healing for your brain in ways that impact your body and ultimately your soul.
Jesus meets me in my sessions. My emotions have room to feel pain and receive comfort. After some sessions I didn’t notice much of a change, and after others my ability to handle certain situations had changed dramatically. Fear and anxiety in areas that would normally trigger me have been drastically reduced or eliminated. Not in every area of life, but where it has changed, it changes my life.
Find out more about EMDR and my experiences in this video.
