Scabbed Over

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope." 

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

If you were like me as a kid, you had more than one skinned knee. You tried and tried that trick on your bike until you finally ended up in a heap of metal and pavement sliding across the ground. The ones that hurt the most were the ones that scabbed over really quick and were still sore underneath. Every time you went to put on a pair of jeans, the fabric bumping it would make you wanna crawl out of your skin. Bottom line, in spite of the scab, it wasn't healed underneath. And because it wasn't healed you became intentional as to not feel that pain again. The same thing happens with the hurts that we carry on the inside. I am talking about the emotional and mental scabs that we all carry around every single day.

Scars on your heart and mind can come from all sorts of places. It might be getting yelled at when you were a kid or it might be a traumatic event that took place in your life. And if we allow ourselves to keep these areas raw and sore, rather than exposing them and allowing them to heal, we will never be free from them and the effects they can have on our lives. We have to make an extra conscious effort to change the way we think and in the same way, it will change the way we speak and act.

I have to be intentional about overcoming my depression and anxiety. There is not one person walking the face of the earth that can take those things away from me. It takes me stopping myself from saying and doing the things I have been saying and doing and allowing the Holy Spirit to heal those hurts in my life. I have to allow Him to step in and rip off the coverings and allow the wounds I carry to be healed. In allowing the Holy Spirit access to these painful areas of my life, healing will begin and I will have a change of mind and spirit. I will stop thinking the way I was thinking. I will stop saying the things I was saying. I will become a new person in Christ. But it takes work on my part too. I have to make a concerted effort to be in constant prayer and in God's Word. And by dedicating myself to these things, they will become second nature to me. I will have allowed the hurts and wounds of my past life to heal. The scars will be there but they won't hurt like they did before.

What I am talking about is true freedom. Freedom from worry and anxiety. I am talking about allowing the Lord to keep the promises He has made to each and every one of us. All I have to do is keep believing. I have to keep confessing. I have to keep praying. I have to stay in a positive frame of mind. And if I run into the ditch of negativity all I have to do is call out for the help that is always present.