In life when we have issues to overcome, there is nothing better than hearing other people’s stories. It can be refreshing to know someone else has been through what you are going through and came out the other end in victory.
But it is also good to hear stories from those that didn’t bid well because we hopefully can learn from them. I personally love to hear the stories from the Bible and one of the stories that has taught me so much was when the Israelites were in bondage to slavery in Egypt.
Being in Bondage
God’s people were in bondage for 400 years in Egypt as they were treated like slaves with the Egyptians as their masters.
Even though they were set free 400 years later by Moses, they were still slaves. God had a promise for them. He had a land that he wanted to give them that was full of “milk and honey.” It would have “houses they didn’t build or crops they didn’t plant,” but it was a journey to get there. The journey was about 11 days, but it took them 40 years. Why? I believe because they were still affected by the trauma they experienced back in Egypt. They still had that slave mentality in the cells of their body. I don’t believe they understood they were free, nor did they understand the miracle of their freedom.
They Needed to Have a Mental Shift in Thinking
The Israelites needed to do a mental shift in their thinking and trust of God. But they struggled to do that. No judgments on them as we all can fall into the same pattern of bondage and slave mentality. Maybe we are physically out of the trauma we experienced but that trauma can still be inside of us. As the years go on, we tend to compartmentalize our trauma. We think we are putting it in pretty boxes and tucking it away, but we are not. It is still there.
The memory and wounding still rests within our cells, our mind, and our heart. We need to receive healing to be free. What has been your Egypt? Do you have past experiences that have traumatized you and you think that because it was so long ago that it is not affecting you any longer? Well, unless we receive healing it probably is manifesting in ways you are not even familiar with.
What I learned to Do
I remember years ago when I was still married, and I would have an argument or fight with my spouse. He had a brilliant way of pushing my buttons and causing me to be utterly upset. Sometimes what he did was not that impactful though, or at least it shouldn’t have been. But I would react in a way that didn’t warrant my reaction. Maybe it deserved 25% of my anger but I was giving it 115%. I had gotten to a point in my healing that I realized this was an out of balance reaction. So, I would ask the Lord what it was a causing this out of balance emotion and why was I overreacting.
God would show me it was igniting an old wound that wasn’t healed. So, the 90% anger I was giving my spouse over a specific issue was not justified and it belonged to an old wound. I got to the point that I would ask the Lord to heal that specific wound. He always did and I would be free. Free to then deal with the 25% anger I had with my spouse for something.
Are there past traumas that are still unhealed?
If you have a relationship with the Lord, you can bring it to Him for healing. He is faithful and will bring complete healing to your body, mind, soul and spirit. He won’t just put a band-aid on it but will completely heal and make you whole.
When I was seeing a counselor dealing with my second level of healing from sexual abuse, she would ask me at the end of a painful session to ask the Lord to now come in and bring healing to that specific issue that I had memory of. I would have such a profound level of healing that all the pain that was brought to the surface was 100% gone and I never left a session exhausted or stressed. That prayer left me feeling fresher and new.
You too can have the same newness and healing. I’m not telling you to drudge up past issues to relive them. I’m encouraging you to bring those issues to the Healer and let Him set you free. That is His heart for you … a complete healing.
Your Spiritual Life & Health Coach … believing in you!