Wounds, healing, hope, friends

I just finished a terrific read. Henri Nouwen wrote this book before I was born, but it touched my soul. In The Wounded Healer, I learned a lot about how my wounds can help heal others. He says that "only by entering into communion with human suffering can relief be found." To me this means that we need to understand pain to heal pain. Or, in other words, you need to feel it so you can heal it.

One of the best things that I have found to be true in my life is that sharing my hurts with others helps me to heal mine. This means I have to hear their hurts, but it helps me. I don't know how to describe it. I have found a safe community full of the love of God, and we are all hurting, all there to heal.

Nouwen said "Love not only lasts forever, it needs only a second to come about." I realized how true this statement was today. By making ourselves vulnerable to each other, we experienced a love that will last forever, and it only took a second to happen. Its amazing what happens when you surround yourself with good people. You get hope.

Nouwen says this about hope: "Hope prevents us from clinging to what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory." Hope helps us to grow. If Lewis and Clark never explored the territory, where would we be? The territory is only fearful because we know nothing of it... but it always helps us when you don't go there alone.

I am no longer alone. Besides God, Dave, and family, I now have some women friends to go through this with. They are a gift from God, beautiful precious jewels. I never had this before, not since Ring in kindergarten left to go back to Taiwan.

And I am not afraid to take that step. Thanks God.