I had a wound once that would not heal. It was in a place on my chest, near the shoulder, and everything seemed to rub against that place. The wound would not heal because it was constantly being irritated. It didn’t have time to heal. To heal, a wound must be kept clean and attended to gently, not regularly knocked against or rubbed with force.
Overtime, the pain created some undesirable behaviors in me. First, I began over protecting that spot. I would over react emotionally when something inevitably rubbed the wound initiating the pain response. I got a bit irritable when the wound would take a hit because the pain would come back and distract me from what I was trying to do.
Emotional wounds are much the same. If someone has harmed you with words, actions, or both, it takes time to heal. The healing cannot begin until that wound is cleaned and attended to gently. It must be protected for a time without insult so the process can do it’s healing work.
If the wounding keeps happening over and over, the wound won’t heal. It will remain aggravated, and the person will begin to exhibit behaviors that grow out of attempts to protect the wound, for better or worse.
If you have a wound, protect it so it will heal. Don’t expose the wound to constant re-injury. Give it some time. Look for people that will be gentle with you and the wound for a time. Then get back to life and expect that one day the wound will be healed and you can go about life to the fullest.
The goal should always be to heal wounds. No one can live well with an open wound. People who walk around with open emotional wounds are not able to live their best lives and can become difficult to be around.
God is the great healer. Don’t try to hide your wound from him or blame him for your wound. Ask him to help protect you and heal the wound.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” -Psalm 147:3
Photo: Kelly Sikkema @Unsplash