Wounded in the Church

Are you upset over the treatment you received at the hands of church people who chose to condemn instead of helping you?

Or who neglected you when they should have sought you out, restored you spiritually and returned you to the flock?

Most people who've been wounded in the church could easily convince a jury it should never have happened. And it shouldn't! But it did - and reliving it won't change it. Think: if you were mugged and taken to the hospital, you wouldn't spend all your time obsessing about the mugger who beat you up, would you? No, your main concern would be recovering as fast as possible!

Ironically, with physical wounds we seek help immediately, but with emotional ones we're inclined to focus on the problem instead of the solution.

General Robert E. Lee once visited a house in Kentucky where a very bitter woman showed him the remains of a magnificent tree the Union artillery had destroyed. She expected Lee to sympathize with her and condemn the Yankees.
But instead he quietly replied, "Cut it down, dear lady, and forget it."

No amount of bitterness could change that tree, but it could certainly change her, and not for the better. Paul says he begged God to take away his pain until, "He told me, 'My grace is...all you need'...Once I heard that...I quit focusing on the handicap" ( 2 Corinthians 12:9 TM).

Quit focusing on your hurt; turn it over to God!