Feeling Better: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

My Heart: I feel wounded

One of the benefits of being a kid in a multiple-child family is that you learn to take abuse. Not that that's good--but it is helpful. We all need to develop some coping skills for deflecting and shedding put-downs, while still preserving our self-confidence.

But sometimes nasty arrows get past our defenses. They find our weak spots, and we can't seem to pull them out. How about you? Are you bleeding right now? Has your wife crushed your feeling of manhood? Has your husband made you feel homely? Have your teenagers figured out that they are stronger than you now? Have you been dumped by the person you were hoping to marry? Have you been demoted? Fired?

The Lord Jesus took his human body to heaven with him, and his human heart hurts when we hurt. "O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me" (Psalm 30:2). He can help us remember without hating. He can help us believe in ourselves again. He can help us feel like the winners we are, even when we've been called losers.

A carpenter told me once that when wood splits along the grain, once it's been glued and clamped it will be stronger than before. Do you suppose that Jesus sometimes lets you be wounded so that his healing will leave you stronger too?