From Hurting to Healing

My life had been difficult for so many years and I was again facing some deep challenges that left me feeling like I was treading water in the middle of the ocean.  It was all I could do to survive.  Often I found myself in tears. My coping skills were not good.  Self-destructive tendencies were growing worse.  I had to do more and more things to cope with the stress, abandonment, rejection, grief, and pain that had such a firm hold on me.  These things were practically strangling me.  I didn't see a way past all that I was juggling:  two jobs, my kids, being a single parent and balancing everything.  Then I was hurt deeply by a church. The pain inside of me was tremendous.  It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other, push through my day, and manage the daily tasks I had to do.  Then suddenly church was pulled out from under me.  I knew then and there that it was the end for me.  There were no new doors in that church.  I had to run away from that place, wipe the dust off my feet and find a new place.  God scooped me up in His arms, carried me away and placed me lovingly into a church where I received the healing, help, and acceptance that I had been needing for almost twenty years.  When I opened the doors to that new church I felt peace.  I knew it was where God wanted me to be.  It was at this church that I was told about a ministry called Celebrate Recovery.  The first night I entered the doors to CR I didn't know what to expect.  All I knew was that I was at the bottom of a dark abyss and really needed support and help.  I was hurting deeply, grief consumed me, pain surrounded me and my life seemed unmanageable and overwhelming. Celebrate Recovery was the beginning of changes for me. Two months after I began attending CR my self-destructive coping strategies were finally removed from my life.  As I continued working my program, asking God for help and receiving support from the amazing women God placed into my life, I began to find peace, hope, and joy again.  Over two years have passed since that time and I'm amazed to see the changes God has done in my life.  All of my work has finally provided me with the ability to tackle the difficult editing process with my book without completely falling apart.  God knew exactly what I needed.  Through all of my pain and suffering, God was working out a plan to place me where He wanted me to be, so He could prepare me to do what He wanted me to do. 

Maybe you are in the place I was in two years ago.  Your life seems unmanageable, heartache surrounds you and anxiety and depression hang heavily over you.  My prayer is that God will reach into your life today and carry you to the place that will bring healing and hope back into your life.  God has a plan for your life.  He is a God that can bring healing and wholeness back into your life.  My prayer is that He will help remove your brokenness from you and heal and mend you.  May you find hope, joy and peace again.