Let God heal your wounds

"I will...heal your wounds."
Jeremiah 30:17 NIV

Addressing the student body at Virginia Tech after a shooting rampage that left 33 people dead and dozens more wounded, Philip Yancey said: "Peter once said to Jesus...'Lord, to whom can we go?'...You've heard, 'Things will get better. You'll get past this.'...Those who offer such comfort mean well, and it's true what you feel now you won't always feel. Yet...you're a different person because of that day...When three of my friends died I came across these lines: 'Grief melts away like snow in May, as if there were no such thing as cold.' I clung to that hope, even as grief smothered me like an avalanche. It did melt away, but like snow it came back in fierce, unexpected ways, triggered by a sound, a smell, a fragment of memory."

Yancey continued, "Pain is a sign of life and love. I'm wearing a neck brace because I broke my neck in an accident. Initially medical workers refused to give me medication because they needed my response. The doctor kept asking, 'Does this hurt? Can you feel that?' The answer he desperately wanted was, 'Yes, it hurts, I can feel it,' proof that my spinal cord hadn't been severed. Pain offers proof of life, of connection. In deep wounds two kinds of tissue must heal: connective tissue, plus the outer protective tissue. If the outer protective tissue heals too quickly the inner connective tissue won't heal properly, leading to complications later."
Don't attempt healing alone. Real healing takes time. It takes place where God's presence, God's peace, and God's people are. Are you hurting today? Turn to God. His promise to you is "I will...heal your wounds" (Jer 30:17 NIV).

Soulfood Bible Readings
2 Chr 1-5, John 12:12-19, Ps 102:1-11, Pr 27:7-9