God is love.  It’s in the Bible.  We’ve all heard this part.  It’s been said so many times, it’s almost lost its meaning.  God is love?  In a world like this?  Well, so what!  But if we meditate on the idea, it returns to its profound roots.  God is love.  The Book of First John tells us that “love comes from God,” that “everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”  Isn’t that a great feeling?  We know God because we know love? So what does this have to do with my emotional wounds?  With all of the painful things that have happened to me?  Well, love is the only cure.  And God is that love.

According to Scripture, God has a soft spot for those who suffer. Psalm 34:18 reads, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  Psalm 147:3 reads, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  According to Scripture, God knows how many hairs are on your head (Matthew 10:30 ).  He knows the condition of your heart (Psalm 139 ).  And He cares about every second of your pain (1 Peter 5:7 , John 3:16 ).

God is an all-sufficient love, and a relationship with Him can and will heal your emotional wounds.  Consider the story of Luke 8 :  Jesus was walking along and the crowds were pushing in on Him and almost crushing Him.  All of a sudden he turned around and said, “Who touched me?”  The disciples, a bit baffled, were like, well Lord, several hundred people are touching you, and Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out of me.”  The woman who had grabbed at his cloak came forward and told Jesus how she had touched Him for healing and that she had already been healed.  Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace.”

Faith can heal us too.  We just have to believe and we have to reach out for Jesus.  In John 16:23 , Christ says, “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”  In Philippians Chapter 4, Paul tells us to take everything to God in prayer, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  What a promise is this!  We just have to pray about our hurt, we just have to take our broken hearts to God, and he will replace our pain with peace.  If the whole world knew this, wouldn’t we be spending most of our time on our knees?  It is a peace that transcends our understanding.  That is a peace that sounds even stronger than my pain.

God wants you to use your emotional wounds to grow closer to Him.  In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 12, Christ says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Paul goes on to write, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  This is a paradox for many of us, because we all want to be strong.  And we can be, in Christ.  In God, we can be stronger than we can ever be alone.  If our emotional suffering brings us closer to God, and as a result, makes us stronger, maybe our wounds are also blessings.

Christ gave a sermon on a mountain and it was such an important event that it is described in both Matthew and Luke.  In this sermon, Jesus stood tradition on its head.  He did so by blessing people who were then considered unlikely recipients.  He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  Are you poor in spirit?  Are you mourning?  Have you suffered for your meekness?  The good news is, if you seek God, you will be blessed.  In this famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was describing God’s children.  God wants you to be His child.  He wants you to need Him, and when you allow yourself to need Him, that’s when the healing begins.

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”  Romans 5:5