Studies show that 100% of us have gone through something in our lifetime. The severity of the issues may not be on the scale of another’s but we all have encountered rain in our lives. The good news that the stats forgot to say is that with every test that we go through, there lies a testimony of strength to tell the world that you were made strong.
Buildings are not the only structures that have gone through the tests of time. You too have been broken and some of you, and as a result, like many people, still lie in ruins. Just as the windows are broken and the doors broken down, it is easy to allow circular heartache to get in because the door is continuously open. Personal tragedy, trauma, grief, and loss can blindside you like the pain of being hit with a MACK truck. I have lived through this grief and trauma so I understand what it is like to pick up the pieces of lemon attempting to make lemonade.
How do you remain safe enough to be open when you’ve encountered heartbreak? How do you move forward through the issues of life when you feel like you can not go on? What do you do when you have no uumph to do anything? These are the questions that I find myself asking in various languages, because no matter where we are, no matter where we live, we all have encountered trouble in our lives and are in need of a solution to help us get out of the rut and onto the purpose that resides in our current pain.
Wounded souls wear band aids carrying severe wounds in the most intimate spaces of themselves…the heart. Where the issues of life lie…the heart…where there is total truth. We wonder how it is so easy to give our all after we are left spiritually, mentally, and socially bankrupt by life….yet we still summon ourselves to give. There comes a time when the giving must stop and we must account for the wounded state of our own souls. We can not give what we do not have and therefore we are not in a condition to pass the peace when we are raging inside.
Religious tradition would teach you to keep moving and not sit down when you have faced personal tragedy, yet I have seen a mother who NEVER recovered from her child’s death refuse to sit down to think about it and cry. As a result, she ended up with progressive dementia and is unable to remember anything much less her name. In my own personal life, the loss of both parents almost drove me crazy…literally, until I sat down and allowed God to help me put my parents’ memory in a safe space so that I could function on this earth. Survey yourself. What is it that you can do to stop the religious denial and deal with your stuff? Can you take a day off of work to journal the pain? Walk in the park and sit on the bench and look up to the sky? How about visit that place of pain in your prayer closet (which is wherever you choose to be) and cry out to God for authentic ” If you don’t help me, I won’t be helped” kind of cry? He is saying to you, “Yield to Me, and I will restore and renew all that has been broken!”
The point I am trying to make here is that God loves us FOREVER. He is not mad at you nor does he want us to live in a box of denial acting like we are okay and functioning at daytime but fragile as glass at night in our homes. Truth in the inward parts is the order of the day so go ahead, and be real with yourself. It is time for you to heal.
God loves you!
Thanks so much to everyone that has downloaded my new book, “Overcoming the Orphan Spirit: Restoration for Self and Society“. It’s an audio book that will guide you to experiencing peace and dealing with your stuff! Order now for $7.99 by clicking this link: http://www.e-junkie.com/Trillionaire/product/489145.php
If you missed our interview, you can catch a snippet of it here (we’ll post soon) where I talked about the birth of GriefTalk and the book, Overcoming the Orphan Spirit, as well as how God delivered me from the fear of being submissive to the ministry mission he had for my family. My husband will share the importance of social media in ministry! We love you!
Danita Ogandaga, MSW 