Starting the Process of Healing from Church Hurt
Jesus Meets You Where You Are
Day 1
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In 2013, Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles and vented on Facebook. Like a modern psalmist, he swayed between fear and hope.
After sharing his doubts, he encouraged himself to keep moving forward: “One day,” he said, “the beginning of a new career journey will commence.” Then he stopped dreaming and said five words that spoke to his reality at the time: “Today is not that day.” Surgery had to come before victory.
When we’re wounded—whether physically, spiritually, or emotionally—we can only move forward once we face our present reality. Suppressing our pain is like trying to hold a beach ball underwater. Eventually, we’ll get hit harder by the very thing we’re trying to keep down.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sin and experience shame in their nakedness. Rather than face their pain, they try to run from it. They stop walking with God and start hiding from him. How does God respond? With curiosity. He asks the first recorded question in Scripture: “Where are you?”
God’s question invited them to pause, take an honest look at their present reality, and offer their pain to him. After curiosity, God shows compassion by covering their shame with the skin of a sacrificed animal. This radical act of grace is one of Scripture’s first foreshadowings of Jesus.
As you begin your healing journey from church hurt, God responds with both curiosity and compassion. He invites you to answer his first question: Where are you?
You can’t move forward in recovery until you accept his invitation to be honest about where you are. God will work with any answer you give him, as long as it’s real.
One of the few postures God is slower to respond to is that of pretending. Pretending is an attempt to hide from reality—and reality is the only place God can work. When talking to the Pharisees in Luke 5:31, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
Jesus is firm with those who believe they’re healthy and tender toward those who admit their need for help. If you’re feeling anger, doubt, or confusion from past church wounds, you’re in good company. Jesus is drawn toward people wrestling with hard emotions.
He is near, unsurprised, and ready to walk with you through your healing journey. But you have to start where you are. He’ll meet you there.
Prayer
God, thank You for asking, “Where are you?” even when I don’t know how to answer. I don’t want to run from my pain or hide from you any longer. Help me stop pretending and start being honest with you. I believe you’re not afraid of my pain. So I bring it all to You, trusting that You will meet me with compassion.
Reflection
Answer God’s first question: Where are you?
Write down your current emotions around Church wounds. If you need help naming what you’re feeling, search ‘the feelings wheel’ online. Afterward, consider sharing your response with a trusted friend.
