Wounded
Posted by: kim
It seemed like I had been driving forever! Finally I came to a greatly neglected piece of property out in the middle of nowhere. The address in my hand matched that on a dilapidated mailbox. Cautiously, I turned onto the long dirt driveway. I finally reached an old rundown home. I put the car in park and slowly made my way to the side door. The owner met me outside. The sound of well over 100 dogs was piercing. She brought out the 3-month old puppy I had come to see. Hovering in her arms, shaking and terrified, the puppy eyed me with palpable fear. The owner explained how this puppy had been removed from her mother at about two weeks of age and isolated from other dogs its whole life because of a Parvo epidemic. The previous day, however, she temporarily put this puppy in an enclosure with some older dogs that ganged up on her and attacked her. At only one-and-a-half pounds, she was obviously underfed and had been emotionally and physically abused.
I knew right then that I would be bringing Cinnamon home with me. A short while later, our local paper ran a story about this breeder. As the story unfolded, my family read with horror the abuse these 100+ dogs suffered at her hands. She was now in prison. In the ensuing weeks and months, Cinnamon’s emotional wounds became increasingly obvious. The abuse and isolation she had endured created a very insecure, fearful, poorly socialized dog who, nine years later, still struggles with emotional issues on a daily basis.
Can you identify with Cinnamon? Statistics show that most people suffer some type of significant trauma by the time they enter adulthood. Sadly, many never overcome the damage caused by the ordeal or suffering, especially in the area of relationships. I talk with many young people every week and am amazed at what they reveal to me…things they have endured and are struggling to overcome, losses they have suffered of great magnitude, or the ramifications of poor decisions they made in the past. The numbers are sobering.
Are you one of these people? Perhaps you have suffered:
---rejection by a parent
---abuse (physical or verbal) or betrayal by someone you trusted
---bullying by schoolmates, “friends,” or associates
---death of a parent or sibling
---serious health issues when young, which isolated you from normal peer interactions
---sexual abuse by someone of the opposite (or same) sex
---exposure at a young age to something very damaging
---growing up in an alcoholic home
Maybe you are suffering from the effects of choices you made, such as:
---drug, alcohol, or gambling addiction
---abortion
If we don’t adequately deal with the trauma in our past, at some point in our lives, it will reemerge. Some of us are masters at keeping our “secret” buried and hidden. But we cannot keep it “under cover” forever. It will surface sometime and will begin to consume our thoughts and emotions. Then it will start to control us (our thoughts, actions, and relationships) … and then it will define us. We begin to see ourselves through the eyes of our injustice and not through the eyes of our Creator. We eventually become handicapped by the anxieties we feel in response to our hurt.
This world is controlled by sin, the enemy of our souls. Left alone, it will defeat us. Plain and simple. But God provides a way out. He sent His only son to earth to die in order to defeat sin and the injustices of this world. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. He is called the Great Comforter and intercedes on our behalf when we are unable. The Holy Spirit will fill our emptiness, heal our hurts, and replace our feelings of confusion, inadequacy, anxiety, and unworthiness with peace and fulfillment … if we call out to God for His help in dealing with our past.
Oftentimes our past hurts and our losses are especially intense over the Christmas holidays. Let’s actively choose to focus on Jesus and not our circumstances. Let’s “keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed -- that exhilarating finish in and with God -- he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.” (Hebrews 12:2, The Message)
Remember that God is in control and our eternal destiny is held safe and secure.
An elderly couple took their 4-year-old grandson to church one Sunday morning. The grandma sang in the choir, so she told the boy that he would be sitting with his grandpa in the church. She took the boy aside, gave him a quarter, and instructed him to poke his grandpa now and then to keep him awake during the service.
The grandpa slept through much of the service, and after church, grandma asked the boy why he hadn’t followed her instructions. The boy replied: “Grandpa gave me 50-cents not to wake him.”
A young man living and working in Garissa, Nairobi-Kenya joins us as our newest subscriber this week. Welcome!
Do you have any friends, siblings, or cousins who would like to connect with The Edge? Why not consider forwarding today’s Edge to some of them? It may be just what they need.
If you are doing the 30-Day Challenge, when you finish, remember to email me a brief accounting of what you did, along with your physical address. Kim@walkontheedge.org
Facebook
Will you join us?
Have you seen the Forums?
Check it out!
Please remember Gail Lazenby in your prayers as she recovers from chemo for metastatic pancreatic cancer.
How may we pray for you or someone you know?
Let’s face it, this fallen world will knock us around a fair amount. Some of you have already suffered serious losses, trauma, or injustices. As we adopted Cinnamon into our family, God adopts you into His family (John 1:12) and you belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:20). But unlike Cinnamon, you have the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit! Do you realize what this means?!? In essence, God has taken up residence within YOU! Did you catch that? Inside YOU! And He doesn’t leave! How cool is that?
Tap into this power (through prayer) to rise above your wounds (with God’s help) and not allow them to define you. Instead, allow God to refine you into the person He designed you to be—a person unencumbered by the past. Know what else? God also promises that He works every detail of our lives into something good in the end. Somehow and in some way, He will use your past for something of value.
I don’t want you to think I am oversimplifying the process that some of you will need to take to deal with your past and resolve your suffering. A number of you will need professional counseling to overcome the deep-seated wound you are left with. Deciding to take control of your situation (before it controls you) by seeking professional help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Decide today to make 2009 the year to get the process rolling. Do not delay. Go to your pastor for counseling or ask him/her (or someone you trust) for the name of a good Christian counselor. Then make an appointment. The more you delay, the harder it will be (yet never impossible) to overcome the hurt and get your life back on track.
But always, take it to God. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you [emotional] rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
God is here. God is active. Do you believe it?
To Him be all glory!
Ms. Kim
www.walkontheedge.org
If any of you have the name of a good Christian counselor or a minister who is trained in counseling, will you please pass along that resource (name and contact information) to me? I’d like to build a data base of people all over the U.S. and world who can minister to Edgers in this capacity. Thank you.
To comment on this newsletter or to dialogue with the writer, post comments below.
Dialogue with other readers in the forums as you respond to these questions or those of your own.
If you have ever undergone counseling, how did it benefit you? How can you encourage someone (reading this) who is trying to deal with an injustice or trauma like one we listed in this Edge? (You may conceal your identity in the forums by using a pseudonym and hiding your email address.)
I knew right then that I would be bringing Cinnamon home with me. A short while later, our local paper ran a story about this breeder. As the story unfolded, my family read with horror the abuse these 100+ dogs suffered at her hands. She was now in prison. In the ensuing weeks and months, Cinnamon’s emotional wounds became increasingly obvious. The abuse and isolation she had endured created a very insecure, fearful, poorly socialized dog who, nine years later, still struggles with emotional issues on a daily basis.
Can you identify with Cinnamon? Statistics show that most people suffer some type of significant trauma by the time they enter adulthood. Sadly, many never overcome the damage caused by the ordeal or suffering, especially in the area of relationships. I talk with many young people every week and am amazed at what they reveal to me…things they have endured and are struggling to overcome, losses they have suffered of great magnitude, or the ramifications of poor decisions they made in the past. The numbers are sobering.
Are you one of these people? Perhaps you have suffered:
---rejection by a parent
---abuse (physical or verbal) or betrayal by someone you trusted
---bullying by schoolmates, “friends,” or associates
---death of a parent or sibling
---serious health issues when young, which isolated you from normal peer interactions
---sexual abuse by someone of the opposite (or same) sex
---exposure at a young age to something very damaging
---growing up in an alcoholic home
Maybe you are suffering from the effects of choices you made, such as:
---drug, alcohol, or gambling addiction
---abortion
If we don’t adequately deal with the trauma in our past, at some point in our lives, it will reemerge. Some of us are masters at keeping our “secret” buried and hidden. But we cannot keep it “under cover” forever. It will surface sometime and will begin to consume our thoughts and emotions. Then it will start to control us (our thoughts, actions, and relationships) … and then it will define us. We begin to see ourselves through the eyes of our injustice and not through the eyes of our Creator. We eventually become handicapped by the anxieties we feel in response to our hurt.
This world is controlled by sin, the enemy of our souls. Left alone, it will defeat us. Plain and simple. But God provides a way out. He sent His only son to earth to die in order to defeat sin and the injustices of this world. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. He is called the Great Comforter and intercedes on our behalf when we are unable. The Holy Spirit will fill our emptiness, heal our hurts, and replace our feelings of confusion, inadequacy, anxiety, and unworthiness with peace and fulfillment … if we call out to God for His help in dealing with our past.
Oftentimes our past hurts and our losses are especially intense over the Christmas holidays. Let’s actively choose to focus on Jesus and not our circumstances. Let’s “keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed -- that exhilarating finish in and with God -- he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.” (Hebrews 12:2, The Message)
Remember that God is in control and our eternal destiny is held safe and secure.
Humor
An elderly couple took their 4-year-old grandson to church one Sunday morning. The grandma sang in the choir, so she told the boy that he would be sitting with his grandpa in the church. She took the boy aside, gave him a quarter, and instructed him to poke his grandpa now and then to keep him awake during the service.
The grandpa slept through much of the service, and after church, grandma asked the boy why he hadn’t followed her instructions. The boy replied: “Grandpa gave me 50-cents not to wake him.”
Welcome
A young man living and working in Garissa, Nairobi-Kenya joins us as our newest subscriber this week. Welcome!
Do you have any friends, siblings, or cousins who would like to connect with The Edge? Why not consider forwarding today’s Edge to some of them? It may be just what they need.
30-Day Challenge
If you are doing the 30-Day Challenge, when you finish, remember to email me a brief accounting of what you did, along with your physical address. Kim@walkontheedge.org
Will you join us?
Have you seen the Forums?
Check it out!
Praise and Prayer
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16b)
Please remember Gail Lazenby in your prayers as she recovers from chemo for metastatic pancreatic cancer.
How may we pray for you or someone you know?
Closing Thoughts
Let’s face it, this fallen world will knock us around a fair amount. Some of you have already suffered serious losses, trauma, or injustices. As we adopted Cinnamon into our family, God adopts you into His family (John 1:12) and you belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:20). But unlike Cinnamon, you have the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit! Do you realize what this means?!? In essence, God has taken up residence within YOU! Did you catch that? Inside YOU! And He doesn’t leave! How cool is that?
Tap into this power (through prayer) to rise above your wounds (with God’s help) and not allow them to define you. Instead, allow God to refine you into the person He designed you to be—a person unencumbered by the past. Know what else? God also promises that He works every detail of our lives into something good in the end. Somehow and in some way, He will use your past for something of value.
I don’t want you to think I am oversimplifying the process that some of you will need to take to deal with your past and resolve your suffering. A number of you will need professional counseling to overcome the deep-seated wound you are left with. Deciding to take control of your situation (before it controls you) by seeking professional help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Decide today to make 2009 the year to get the process rolling. Do not delay. Go to your pastor for counseling or ask him/her (or someone you trust) for the name of a good Christian counselor. Then make an appointment. The more you delay, the harder it will be (yet never impossible) to overcome the hurt and get your life back on track.
But always, take it to God. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you [emotional] rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
God is here. God is active. Do you believe it?
To Him be all glory!
Ms. Kim
www.walkontheedge.org
*****************
I need your help
If any of you have the name of a good Christian counselor or a minister who is trained in counseling, will you please pass along that resource (name and contact information) to me? I’d like to build a data base of people all over the U.S. and world who can minister to Edgers in this capacity. Thank you.
****************
To comment on this newsletter or to dialogue with the writer, post comments below.
Dialogue with other readers in the forums as you respond to these questions or those of your own.
If you have ever undergone counseling, how did it benefit you? How can you encourage someone (reading this) who is trying to deal with an injustice or trauma like one we listed in this Edge? (You may conceal your identity in the forums by using a pseudonym and hiding your email address.)