Thinkaloud | true healing

the battles of life come to us all

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ou have been injured in the battle of life and your wounds are severe, not life-threatening but very painful. Perhaps you realized only recently that the shadow which has been over your life for as long as you can remember started when you were sexually molested by an adult whom you had trusted. Maybe your life companion has just died and you are experiencing such cutting loneliness as you never thought existed. You are bereft, aimless and lost.

It might be that you have lost something so precious that it meant the world to you: your sight, your hearing, your mobility, your life savings… the list could go on. Possibly you have just learned that you, or someone dear to you, have cancer or some other dread disease, and you don’t want to die; there’s so much you want to do, that you put off until just the right time – and now there is no more time.

You read in the newspaper that an old school friend, whom you had always meant to call, has died and memories you had locked away for years flooded back. You became depressed when you realized that many of your early dreams would never bear fruit. You have just received word that there are no more openings in the company you work for; you’ve reached the ceiling. No more promotions, that’s it! Someone has decided that you’re no longer an asset, you’re no longer on the cutting edge. But you are not ready to leave; your mind is full of plans, but no one wants to hear them anymore. You think you are the invisible person.

The battles of life come to all of us; we will not escape, though few are called upon to face every one of them. What is it, in the aftermath of such battles, that determines whether a person will be a winner or a loser? Is there any sure way to be a survivor?

There is! You may be sure that the Creator – the One who has revealed Himself to us as Love – fully understands all that you and every one of His creatures experience. And His understanding includes the invitation to receive the deep healing of the spirit that only He can provide. Those dark and tortured memories can be given to Him to be shared, cleansed, renewed and made whole. He can take away the poison of unforgiveness and replace it with the release from bondage that true forgiveness guarantees. Not only that, His presence as Companion, Guide and dear Friend fills all the empty spaces in your life as you are joyously and expectantly responsive to the Comforter, the Holy Spirit who comes alongside to help

The battles we face in life are not always of our own choosing, but the response to these crippling conflicts – that is ours and ours alone. Are you still attempting to go it alone, trying but failing to make any headway amid life’s tough moments? Why not turn to Him? He is the beginning and the end of all there is, and He is very approachable. He has revealed Himself as Love and this revelation is accurate.

Song writer Edward Mote knew what it was like. His experience comes out in a hymn he wrote:

His oath, His covenant and blood,
Support me in the ’whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
What is happening to you, after the battle?

This might be just the time to take the right step, in His direction.

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of theRubicon series called Resurrected Writers.

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