A broken bone. A cut. A cold. I’ve only listed a few because each of these has something in common. Each of these ailments requires something that we want instantly. In fact, we want this as soon as we begin to suffer. That’s none other than healing. There are times that God gives instant healing to our bodies, and then there are other times that the healing comes in a process. When we’re the ones hurting, then it can’t come quick enough. None of us likes any type of physical pain. We do all we can to avoid it. In fact, if there’s something we can do to numb the pain, then we are quick to take it. Pain isn’t our friend, or so we think.

Just like physical pain, we face even greater discomfort and hurt when we deal with emotional pain. This is the difficult places in our lives that make it so uncomfortable and unpleasant to talk about. We would rather act as if doesn’t exist. We hide and mask the pain as if it’s not there because it seems easier not to deal with it, but this doesn’t solve any of the problems that we are dealing with.

Many times when we let God into these places in our lives, the healing doesn’t happen instantly. The healing is a process just like what we go through in our physical bodies. The process is where the most growth happens. It’s a place of molding and shaping. It’s a place of facing those things that we don’t want to in order to move us forward in life. Otherwise, we would stay stuck in life. We want to go from “Point A” to “Point B” without having to travel the path between the two. The path is where you are going to see God at work healing you.

There will be days in the process that you are going to experience a whole range of emotions. Anger, sadness, followed by confusion and just not happy with your life. Rinse and repeat about 500 times with a sprinkle of happiness in there every so often, along with hundreds of other emotions. Feel the pain. Ouch! We don’t like that because it hurts. Don’t suppress it. It only leads to more issues later on. Feel it and move on. This is your emotional healing process…of which probably it was not instant. Not what we want! We want it gone yesterday so we don’t have to feel anything, but God says the healing process is your greatest friend. It’s making you into the even stronger person that He desires you to be.

When you’re in the middle of your healing process, it’s so difficult to see just how far God has brought you and just how much that you’ve healed. You can’t see it right now, but when you look back, then you’ll see just what a wonderful work God has done in your life. You’ll be amazed as you see all of the details fit together to bring you to this place of emotional wholeness. You weren’t aware of how God was putting you back together in the day-to-day, but He was. He used the pain you experienced to become your greatest friend. It got you to a place of nothing missing, nothing broken. A place of shalom.

So if your healing isn’t instant, then don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up. Face the difficult places in your life and emotions. Let God into what He does best – making all things new, even your emotions. Give Him the opportunity to work and show the world just what an awesome God He is. You are worth it, son. You are worth it, daughter. You are worth it, child of God!