Wounded For Fragrance

Our life is full of brokenness...bitter relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives? ~Henri Nouwen~

The other night I attended a presentation by someone involved in helping former sex-trafficked young women transition back into 'real' life after being rescued.
A couple of young women chose to return to a brothel. When one young woman was asked why, she replied honestly, "It is more painful for me to walk through my pain in counselling." Going back to the brothel, she could dissociate or detach herself from the pain. I cannot even begin to imagine the layers upon layers of untold horrible wounds inflicted on these young women from the time they were children and sold by their own parents. 
Deeply and horribly wounded.

Faith Barista's word prompt today is "Wounded".
The Free online dictionary defines 'wounded' as someone with a wound:

wound n.

1. An injury, especially one in which the skin or another external surface is torn, pierced, cut, or otherwise broken.

2. An injury to the feelings.

There is not a single human being who has gone through life unscathed from wounds, multiple wounds.

We, as a people, are the walking wounded.

Physical wounds, the ones people can see, do heal, sometimes leaving a scar depending on the severity of the wound.

However wounded feelings and broken hearts are many times stuffed inside and we create masks to hide them. Illusion. For unknown to the sufferers, it reveals itself in how they respond to life circumstances, to particular people, to God.

In both cases, physical and emotional, untended wounds will fester and the infection will spread unless tended to. Unless cut open and cleansed in a timely manner, more pain will build up slowly as infection takes hold. Sometimes an antibiotic ointment or healing balm may be applied to hasten and ensure proper healing for a physical wound.

Emotional wounds in a similar way must be cut open with the help of the Great Physician. He gives us the Holy Spirit as Comforter and Counsellor. He gives us His living Word to bring new life. At times He uses human agents, Christian therapists, as His Hands and Voice.

But if not dealt with, these wounds can fester and infect all those around us, become bondages and then strongholds, and can even be passed on through generations. If you look at your generational sins, you will find certain sins that repeat itself, sometimes being manifested in different forms, like addiction for example. At some point, someone must face up to the sin, to the pain, and break that stronghold.

The longer you take to lean into that pain, the more it will hurt, the more pain you will inflict on yourself and others.

I empathize with that young woman. In trying to write snippets of my life, I have found it to be quite painful. As such, I believe that you should never go back 'there' on your own. You should go back with Someone safe, to protect you, to assure you of their Presence and Help.

Go back with God and you will soon see that He was always there. At times, you may need a qualified counsellor to help you sort through emotions and thoughts depending on the status of your wounds.

I remember the first time I experienced major trauma, I immediately sought God through prayer and Scripture. The Psalms became such a balm for me. I found that I could 'lament' like David and then allow God to filter out my raw emotions through His Word.

But then there came a time, when with aggressive participation from Satan, traumatic circumstances piled on within a relatively short space of time, leaving me no time or energy to 'filter' and so I stuffed my pain deep inside as I fought to keep my head above water. (See here for more details.)

Since that time, I have struggled with depression and mild PTSD that have placed limitations on what I am able to do. God has used Bonnie (Faith Barista) and other writers and theologians in recent times to point me back to resolutely walking down that Via Dolorosa to confront that pain head on, to crucify it on that Cross, to allow His cleansing and healing power that came from His blood being poured out literally and figuratively for me.

So I am in that process. 

I am filled with hope of what lies beyond that Cross.

If I had a choice, I would avoid being wounded at all. But God knows that it is my woundedness that will draw me to Him, the Wounded Healer; that will change me to transform me more and more into His image.

(Hebrews 2:9-10 (AMP)9 But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God [to us sinners] He might experience death for every individual person.

10 For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.

Jesus, the Son of God, chose to undergo excruciating pain. He did it willingly and resolutely.

Why?

Just so that I could be reconciled in relationship with the Father.

Out of love. 

Amazing love. 

A love of mystery.

A love I choose to embrace.

A love that has supernaturally filled me at times when I obeyed His nudging to connect with people who offended me. Seeing people through His eyes and heart allows you a glimpse of how much He loves each of us and also reveals who the true enemy is and always has been.

So yes, today, I praise Him for my wounded state which draws me to Him, which is being transformed into threads of glory pointing to an ever increasing glory that will culminate when we see Him face to face.

So, will you join me in allowing His surgical Hands to cut, cleanse and heal your wounds?

Let us touch Him and allow Him to touch us today.

Remember:
Untended wounds will bring a foul odour; a stench.
Shallow perfume-treatments give an illusory coverup and will fade.
Tended wounds bring healing and newness of life.
It brings His eternal fragrance, always fresh. When others breathe it in, it brings healing.

"Beauty From Pain" by Superchick

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died
And all that's left is to accept that it's over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made
I try to keep warm but I just grow colder
I feel like I'm slipping away

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

My whole world is the pain inside me
The best I can do is just get through the day
When life before is only a memory
I'll wonder why God lets me walk through this place
And though I can't understand why this happened
I know that I will when I look back someday
And see how you've brought beauty from ashes
And made me as gold purified through these flames

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

Here I am at the end of me (at the end of me)
Tryin' to hold to what I can't see (to what I can't see)
I forgot how to hope
This night's been so long
I cling to Your promise
There will be a dawn

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

Linking up with JamWithMeThursdays at Faith Barista: