No matter what we do or why we do it, we will have consequences physically and spiritually.  We are a physical being living in a spiritual world.  I say this because this morning I am feeling physically ill–cold has set in and yet I feel spiritually full.  The consequences of our trip to China has led into a full blown cold which I now have and most on our trip got while we were there.  I just completed my devotions and some lessons for a Celebrate Recovery Step Study that takes place this morning after our first worship service.  The lessons were so specifically for me I thought God had this curriculum written just so I’d wake up more fully to His Spiritual purpose/s.  God is awakening in me our need to share our physical stories in order to help others connect to His spiritual work in our lives.  If we keep our personal struggles quiet, man tends to believe “we live in a more perfect world than they do” and Satan uses that to isolate them just as we always felt isolated before we stepped out of our denial.

I have someone very close to me who is living in tremendous physical hurt/pain.  No matter how much doctor treatment or meds have been tried, there has been no relief.  He is definitely discouraged and feeling less than worthwhile to God.  He recently told his wife that he wished others struggling similarly would share their struggle rather than telling their overcoming.  He is in the midst of struggle and doesn’t know how to get to spiritual overcoming.  I always thought in my head that I had to have my torment removed in order to be “whole” and worthwhile.  God has taught me that in my sharing of my torment that I find the greater healing which turns out to be freedom rather than physical healing.  I also have to have a physical support team that reminds me how to surrender these times and to tell these times.  My friend is afraid to share his pain for fear that others will judge him for it.  Does that sound familiar?  It sure does to me as I lived in constant fear of judgment by man.  I finally found that in sharing I was only being judged by myself.  God was waiting for me to learn this spiritual lesson of sharing.  I was wanting others to share their hurt but God was wanting me to open up about mine so that others would find the safety to tell of their own.  I tell in my Celebrate Recovery testimony that I prayed for years for someone to share their struggle from sexual abuse, same sex temptations, etc., but no one did.  Now that I can tell mine, I have had scores of people come to me admitting their bondage and now they are stepping into spiritual healing about who they are to God.

I have learned that God waits for us to awaken to His truth about our walk.  His truths are spiritual truths.  We so often want a physical healing from a spiritual truth but God waits for us to see His purpose in physical/emotional/psychological pain.  These are physical ailments resulting from being a human/physical being.  If we hide them they fester and build as mine did for almost 60 years.  God heals us (not necessarily from the pain) but by freeing us to share this burden.  Pain is built in part by isolating it from spiritual help.  I hope this makes some sense to you.  God is certainly driving a point home to me that I want to help make clear to those in their own personal journey.

C.S. Lewis once said, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”  If you are on the road of isolation about your struggle, make an about face and tell this struggle.  God’s truth promises freedom and it sometimes promises healing.  Find the freedom of telling and maybe there will be healing along with it too.