Emotional bruising is one of those things that changes your life. It changes your heart. It changes the way you think, the way you act, how you love, who you trust, and everything in between. The bruises sink down deep into your being and eventually fade away and are replaced, but when pressure is added it feels just like it did the first go-around, maybe even worse somehow. Sometimes we don't even realize they are there anymore or as deep as they were. We forget to continue the healing. We forget how deeply loved we are.
Life moves crazy fast. We all have all these different aspects of our lives that are just running amuck. We all have hurts from different areas of our lives, whether that be friends, family, religion, school, work. These punches leave these bruises on our hearts. They hurt for a bit then fade away with the next hit or under the next item on the to-do list. As a millennial generation, we barely have time to even stop and acknowledge what actually hurt us before something else to beckoning for our attention. We are told life isn't fair and to move on to the next thing. Then after awhile our hearts are these brusied, scared, and this dark mess.
A lot us us have issues in their family such as disunity or abuse. Maybe an ex or current relationship where you have faced emotional violence.. or a friendship that went sour? Or the person who spoke down to you? These resurface in our futures if we never get rid of the bruise completely. When any possible romantic situation in any way comes about, rejection surfaces. Betrayal surfaces. Distrust surfaces. These bruises come up. They put up these thick prison walls around my heart because I am terrified of getting hurt because of these bruises. Words will just run round and round in my head. It is hard to love. It is had to trust. It is hard to ignore the bruises when you feel attacked by these resurfacing chokeholds.
These chokeholds can be the silliest things. Things where you feel vulnerable. Easy to be attacked. Maybe that is crushing on a guy or even the silly fear of haunted houses. It is vulnerability that these brusies come back to life. The great news is that thank God, we do have freedom. We do know what true love is. We do know the truth of all truths that we are loved immeasurably. That we aren't rejected, but welcomed. We are not betrayed, but drawn near. Jesus heals our brusies when we stand on these truths. He takes what has made it hard to love and makes it our desire to love better. He gives us compassion through our bruises to help others and recognize that we all have brusies. He directs us to healing and broken chains through his Word. He makes the bitter sweet. And the bruised healed. Let us take a moment these week to acknowledge our great need for Jesus to supernaturally set us free from our pasts. Open our eyes to see forgiveness that needs to happen. And to walk in a way where we are sensitive to other people's bruises by understanding and speaking graciously. Bruises don't define you. You may be bruised, but you are loved above all.
