When The Waters Recede: Healing The Heart

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Healing the heart softens what has grown callous. It removes pain, restores tenderness, and reopens us to love.

The First Step Toward Healing

Accepting the premise that we all need healing is, in fact, the first step to healing. For years, I believed I was fine. Life was good; what could possibly need healing? But denying the need for healing didn’t make me whole—it only made me prideful.

It began with a simple question I heard on retreat—one that has echoed in me ever since: “Have you ever reacted to a situation in a way that was completely unwarranted?” Those words stopped me in my tracks, and to this day, they still stop me when I respond in a way that doesn’t fit the circumstances. In other words, why did I react that way at the silliest, most inconsequential, non-event? What’s really behind those emotions? And that, for me, was the start of my healing journey.

What Lies Beneath

What lies hidden cannot be healed. We know this well in the case of physical illnesses. Before any treatment can begin, we must identify and understand the root cause of the disease. The same holds for emotional and spiritual hurts. Unless symptoms or triggers surface, it is difficult for us to identify the wound that is causing our reaction.

When the Waters Recede

Imagine a river after the rains. When the waters are high, the rocks remain hidden. But when the river recedes, the rocks emerge. Our wounds are like that—submerged beneath life’s surface until emotions or triggers reveal them.

When emotions respond in unwarranted ways, including the absence of emotion, or triggers flare, this is the receding of the waters—an opportunity for heart wounds to be identified and healed by Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, restores, and brings us wholeness.

The God Who Heals

We are all in need of healing. Jesus came to heal us, to bind up our brokenness, and to save us from ourselves. He came to bring forgiveness for our failings, and He came to teach us how to forgive others and ourselves. 

At the root of healing is one thing: An encounter with the Lord and His unconditional love. 

Receiving God’s love is the most essential aspect of healing. That’s what love does: it heals. God’s love fills the areas of our hearts that were previously closed off because of hurt, pain, and sin. His love softens what has grown hard and opens us to Father’s love—the balm for our brokenness.

An Invitation to the Journey

There are countless books and methodologies on healing, many of which are excellent resources (I’ll list some below). What I’d like to invite you to consider is to ask the Holy Spirit to help you notice areas where you may be triggered. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to reveal the areas of your heart where the Lord wants to bring healing. Get in touch with your emotions, list the hurts, identify where lies have crept in about who you are, and ask the Lord—the lover of your soul, the healer of your heart—to pour His truth and perfect love into every place that needs His touch.

“Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” (Jeremiah 17:14)

Reflection

• Where in my heart have I mistaken self-protection for healing?
• What might the Holy Spirit be inviting me to bring into the light?

Resources

Book Suggestions

Be Healed by Dr. Bob Schuchts

Healing by Francis MacNutt

Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World by Dr. Mary Healy

Abide: A Pathway to Transformative Healing and Intimacy With Jesus by Heather Khym

Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom Through Jesus by Sr. Miriam James Heidland

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Boundaries by Henry Cloud, Dr. John Townsend

No Such Thing As Ordinary by Rachel Balducci