All of us have experienced traumas of some nature earlier in our lives, and some have not been resolved. Unfortunately, it affects us in our current life and relationships. They may have occurred in prenatal times or some time in the frame of the developmental stages of our life. Life’s traumas, if not dealt with appropriately, can restrain us from functioning at our full potential. Consider our phobias: fear of intimacy, heights, public speaking, driving, fear of confrontation, etc. These are few of the many causes that make us cower from great opportunities that come our way in life. It makes us feel like a house divided, as we remain prisoners by the fixation of ordeals in the past.
The Broken Hearted
A few months ago, a respectable sixty-five-year-old grandmother came into my office and in tears confided that she was non-orgasmic throughout her marriage of forty-five years. She testified that her spouse had been a great husband, father, provider and priest of their family. Unfortunately, without fail, every time she tried to find pleasure with her dear husband, perplexing and painful memories and emotions would flood her mind. At the age of ten, she was sexually assaulted by her uncle, and at twelve she was raped by her cousin nine years her senior. Feelings of pain and humiliation of the past surfaced and haunted her. She had been robbed of blessings of intimacy, fulfillment and security that come through marriage love. For all of her adult life up to that day she has lived with this torment.
Another case that seems to be simpler but with devastating effects is a young man of twenty who has been deprived of adequate love from his dad who is a travelling evangelist, and he turned to homosexuality in pursuit of comfort and security of Daddy’s love.
Since the fall of Adam, we have lived in an imperfect world with imperfect people. I believe all of us suffer consciously or unconsciously from some kind of issue that hinders from experiencing God’s best. In John 10:10, Jesus warns us that “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
As a counsellor, I have heard many unimaginable sad stories. I can’t help but lament with God’s people and work with Him to help bring restoration and healing to them.
The Healer
Our Chief Counsellor Healer, Jesus Christ, said in Luke 4:18 that he came to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recover of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke 8:43-44 tells us that there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and still could find no cure. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his remnant, and immediately the bleeding stopped.
Psychologists, medical science and great anointed and zealous preachers of the gospel have brought much help and healing. Sometimes the help some folks receive is likened to Band-Aid treatment to terminal illness. Some of us have only learned to cope with issues. Christian psychologists agree that in most cases mental and physical ailments are basically symptoms of a wounded heart and only the intervention by the Spirit of God will bring healing and restoration from within.
Jesus continues to say in Luke 18:27, “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Perfect restoration comes only from the perfect one.
We have seen the broken minded in institutions, the homeless on the streets, the single people who are afraid to get married, the rapists who were deprived of a wholesome life and not adequately socially developed to engage in relationships in a healthy manner, the homosexuals, the prostitutes, and the pedophiles. Habits that we cannot quit, and fail to admit, patterns we cannot stop, addictions, weaknesses manifest, anger that flies out of the unconscious and subconscious and deep dimensions of our heart. We have seen these catastrophic circumstances even among the “redeemed.” Much of our ugliness comes out of broken places of our hearts and are cries from within for healing and relief.
There is something about all these predicaments; there is something inside that is compelling people to do things that they do not want to do. Paul said in Romans 7:19–20 “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. [20] But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
The Stream of Deep Restoration
Jesus, in his deep eternal love for His people, declared in Matthew 13:15 “For this people’s heart have become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them.” He speaks of the state of man and is offering to heal us. Let’s look at some of the broken people he healed. The blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame leaped and jumped, the skin-corroded leper was cleansed, the hemorrhaging of the woman stopped. The prostitute thought pattern and behaviour changed, she was healed emotionally and eventually restored to live a normal life.
Let’s try to understand what Jesus was trying to communicate. “Here, look — this is what I am offering you. Not only your body, but also MOST IMPORTANTLY your heart (Spirit/Mind), which includes our emotions and will. He is saying that He’ll deal with the ghosts that jump out conveniently from the framework of our minds to paralyze us psychologically and emotionally, and steal the more abundant life that we can experience through the healing touch.
Remember, Jesus was not a fanatic, nor was He a fool; He was not a profit or teacher. He was not Elijah, John the Baptist, nor was He Solomon. He is the Alpha and Omega, the creator of all things, without Him nothing was made. He is the wonderful counsellor, the Mighty God, our everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He was not a liar and always spoke the truth; in fact, He was the Truth. He said that he came that we may have life and live more abundantly. Who will you believe? What will you believe? As we believe so it will be to us. Inner healing and deep restoration is for us today.
Trained Spirit-filled counsellors are able to help people find the issues of the past that rob them of life today. Help them make themselves vulnerable to God The Holy Spirit who alone can perform spiritual surgery that will affect the whole man. He will visit with us in our past, meet us in the pain or predicament, help us find the source of our problems, accept the fact from God’s perspectives, forgive ourselves and those involved, receive our healing and experience deep restoration.