Healing hurts. Bad. I did not realize how painful the process of healing was until I chose to take the time to evaluate my past hurts and deal with them. So Often I would say, "I'll start healing tomorrow," but when we say that we never truly take the time to heal. Instead, we wait for the miraculous day that we are suddenly all better. But the pain doesn't just vanish. Pain is experienced not only physically but emotionally as well and more often than not the pain of emotional wounds cut deeper than physical wounds.

Personally, I have been through more than my fair share of pain and I became extremely guarded because of those painful experiences. I learned how to craft impenetrable walls that kept even the people I loved out of my vulnerable places. But it also kept God out. Instead of allowing Him to deal with my wounds I let them fester until my wounds were so painful that it was easier to try and forget they were there. But what good is a body covered in sores? It becomes nonfunctional, incapacitated and altogether damaged. When we keep our wounds locked away we, too, become locked up and unable to create true relationships. In the long run we are only causing ourselves more pain.

But God wants to help us heal. This is where the fresh pain comes. God wants to help us heal but it requires Him to find the root of the infection, dig it out and then help us maintain the health of that opened wound until we are whole again. In practical terms, we have to dive back into the situation that scared us, identify why we can't move past it and allow God to minister to that ever so painful place until we can stand in a place of victory instead of defeat.

This process, I will reiterate, is extremely painful. But it is a good pain. It's the pain of process and healing. The process of healing is painful but the amount we allow ourselves to process and feel is the same amount of victory and triumph we can declare. God doesn't take us through this pain in order to hurt us. In fact, it is the exact opposite.

God wants us to be whole so that we may step into the calling He has for each and everyone of us. God loves us so much that He is willing to sit in our filth and pain in order to bring us victoriously into our next season of life. Again, healing hurts. Bad. But instead of running away from the pain because it seems familiar, run towards it and trust that God will help you through the process. You've got this because not only do I believe in you, but God does as well. This healing pain may hurt bad, but it's so righteously good. And so is God.