Damaged Emotions
Page Three
Because of the appalling moral cesspool of the society in which we live today, where many are weaned on impulsiveness, sensuality, and license, there are great ranges of emotional damage in the sexual area of our personalities. I remember a lady who drove 1200 miles to talk to me about her sexual problem. Then there was the man who said he drove around the church eleven times before he finally got up enough courage to come in to talk with me. Each was a genuine Christian with the problem of homosexuality.
I recall a minister from another state who was defeated by his long-standing, seemingly unconquerable and compulsive habit of masturbation. There was the young lady who came to me for help with a veil over her face, she was so ashamed. Her very own father had treated her, not as a daughter, but as a wife. I know of a young college man who had been brought up on a farm and who had sinned with animals—a sin as ancient as time and about which the Old Testament has much to say. Then there is the host of men and women who have been fed false, foolish, and harmful ideas by well-meaning but ignorant parents and preachers and, as a result, are now unfit for marriage and unable to be husbands or wives without terrible fear, guilt, and shame.
 Fearful people simply cannot make
a decision; they are paralyzed by the
fear of making a wrong choice; they
are obsessed with a fear of failure.
Healing for Damaged Emotions
Does the church have a message for all these we have mentioned and many others? If not, let's close up shop, shut down the church and go home.
What message does God have for us with these damaged areas in our personalities and emotions?
A somewhat amusing incident offers a truth in this respect. An old farmer was in an automobile wreck. As usual, along came an amateur lawyer. He inspected the bashed fenders and battered doors and said to the farmer, "Man, you ought to collect some damages for this." The puzzled farmer wisely replied, "Damages? I've collected enough damages already. What I need are some repairs!"
What are the repairs we need for the emotional damages we have collected during our lives? What can God do for us who bear "spirits of infirmity" that plague us, defeat us, and keep us from being His effective instruments?
Can we expect the Holy Spirit to help us bear our infirmities? Does He just give us a cane or a crutch to support our limping for the rest of our lives? No. He does give comfort, but his help does not stop there. "Likewise the spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.... And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."4
What message does God have for
us with these damaged areas
in our personalities and emotions?
This is what we need! The great Divine Counselor who knows the depths of our minds, who can reach deep into our subconscious and unconscious minds and evangelize them, too. He does this by showing us how to pray, by teaching us what to really pray for, by interceding for us when "we do not know how to pray as we ought." Remember, though, the Holy Spirit works with us. "What is our part in this great healing process?" you may be asking.
First, you need to face your problem; squarely, with ruthless honesty, with another person. Whatever it is; whatever dreadful hidden childhood memory; whatever experience; however deep that terrible feeling within you...acknowledge it to yourself and to God and if necessary (and it usually is!) to at least one other person. I say, "at least one other person," because we are usually so enmeshed in our problems, we cannot see our way clearly. Many of our damaged emotions have long ago been pushed deeply out of awareness and sealed off from any conscious recognition. A mature, trusted friend or a sensitive professionally trained person can gradually help us face our hidden selves and our repressed wounds, fears and pain. This may be the most difficult part of the entire healing process—reliving and remembering the old wounds and emotional scars.
Opening up our wounds to another person also allows them to become instruments of God's grace. Just like many of our damages grew out of anxious, hostile, guilt producing or rejecting experiences, so new attitudes of self acceptance, confidence, and forgiveness can begin to take root in the soil of love and acceptance by mature, caring, insightful friends and professional counselors.
Second, you need to face your own responsibility in the matter. You have been sinned against, true. You are a victim; someone has hurt you; indeed, you were never given love...only rejection.
 Continued on Page Four
|
