Healing From Brokenness

On Friday, Jun 29, 2007, our youngest daughter Allie, 6 years old at the time, broke both of her arms on a trampoline.

Both arms at once!

The incident is still traumatic for everyone involved when we think back on it.

Over the months of healing though, we enjoyed a new level of closeness with her.

The point behind telling her story today is to think about what happened physically to her arms. The bones broke and re-healed. The miracle is hidden in that simple sentence.

It was amazing to see how the bones naturally regrew. Each part “reaching” out to its mate, sending out hormones and “glue” to rebind and eventually become stronger than they were before.

It was a tough road, to be sure.

And once the casts were removed her arms were such tiny little things. Little muscle and oh, so thin!

But again, over time and with physiotherapy exercises they re-strengthened.

This is so natural and normal that unless you’ve experienced this personally you might not notice the awe and wonder of it all.

But today, consider the spiritual application of this story. When we face trials and temptations, when we fail or get knocked down, we experience what feels like, and is, a weakening, a breaking.

We are broken and humbled. The Bible tells us God is near to us at this time. (Psalm 34:18)

We are in a special state, a closer relationship than in normal everyday life. Just like with Allie, there was a new tenderness, and new sense of gratefulness and closeness that was not as palpable before the accident. So it is with us and God when we go through tough times.

Then, the healing begins, and God provides that miracle. Spiritual healing is just as miraculous, maybe more so. Forgiveness, strengthening, loving our enemies. The casts of spiritual principles help us “make our paths straight”, healing properly. Without which our lives could heal “bent,” with less “range of motion.” God intends that we become emotionally, mentally, and spiritually stronger: more reliant on him and less reliant on the world or ourselves.

The spiritual “exercises” of meditation, prayer, bible reading and fellowship are as important as physiotherapy if you want to fully heal and get the flexibility back.

Otherwise, the danger is becoming more rigid, more hardened, and less open to others than you were before. We’ve all seen these people. Maybe even in yourself.

The good news is that while physical healing takes place on a fairly predictable timescale, the healing of the human heart can happen at anytime.

You can still forgive. You can still love. You can still grow stronger. You can still replace bitterness with tenderness.

The work is done in knowing God. The gym of strengthening is found in the community of Christ, in the Bible, and in the stillness of prayer and meditation.

If you’ve been hurt, if you realize there’s hardness in a certain area of your heart, you don’t have to stay that way.

Lean in to God.