Women of Faith - Healing from Brokenness

2008 Thomas Nelson.

Previously published as Finding Freedom from a Broken Past.

The publishers are grateful to Kim Stone for her collaboration and writing skills in developing the content of this study guide.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, The New King James Version (NKJV). 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the New Century Version. 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-310-68253-0

ISBN-13: 978-0-310-68254-7 (eBook)

First Printing February 2016

CONTENTS

In this ebook edition, please use your devices note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response]. Use your devices highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

I watched as the radio interviewer shook his head. He was reading messages posted onto a monitor in front of him by the producer of his show. In a sentence or two he was being told about incoming calls and the questions the listeners wanted to ask.

Is that a tough question? I asked.

Its too personal, he said. The caller wants to ask about your time in a psychiatric hospital.

Ill be very happy to take the call, I said, and so he put her through.

Is it true that you spent a month in a psychiatric hospital? she asked.

It is, I said. I was hospitalized with severe clinical depression.

Did you feel as if your life was over? she asked.

I did. It was the scariest time in my life, I told her. Even though at the beginning it seemed to me that my life was over, I discovered that because of the love and mercy of God, it was really just a new beginning. Facing the truth is hard but it is also very liberating.

Ive been struggling with depression for over two years, she said, but I am too ashamed to get help. I feel as if Im letting God down.

I understand how you feel, I said, I felt that, too, until I began to comprehend the depth of Gods compassion. He loves us right now, just as we are, and he longs for us to bring your brokenness to him so that he can heal us.

I want the pain to just go away, she whispered. I dont think I have the strength to face everything that has happened in my past.

You dont on your own, I agreed, but you are not alone.

How well I understood this dear sisters aching heart. I, too, have found myself at the edge of a dark night afraid to take one more step in case the darkness overwhelmed me. I have tried to push painful memories into the most hidden room of my heart and simply move on with my life. What I discovered, though, is that when we close off our heart to pain, we close it off to the love and light of God as well.

I dont know what brokenness you are facing or what caused you to pick up this study guide, but I want to encourage you that you are embarking on an amazing adventure of freedom and grace. No matter how fragile you feel, let me remind you of the words of the prophet Isaiah as he spoke of the coming Messiah, He will not break a crushed blade of grass or put out even a weak flame (Isaiah 42:3 NCV).

It is my sincere prayer that when you have completed this study, you will know an internal liberty that you have never known before. God bless you, my sister!

Sheila Walsh

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

Psalm 5:17, NIV

We were sitting in the dim and quiet living room, nursing our babies. I dont remember where our husbands and the older children wereprobably outside. But I do remember my friends sweet face as she confided to me, I know you dont really want to know about this stuff, but you need to. I was molested as a child, and I want you to help me work through this.

She wondered if I would be shocked, repulsed, but all I felt was a well of compassion, such love and such humbleness that she would be willing to share the dark as well as the bright side of life with me.

Maybe not all of us have dealt with an event in our past that has been this traumatic. But each and every one of us has had an experience that has left us broken, an experience that has forced us to cry out for help. Maybe it was a divorce or bankruptcy, a severe car accident or the death of a close friend or relative, a life-threatening illness or a battle with depression. However unique your personal experience with brokenness has been, each and every one of us has dealt with the same emotions, empty-heartedness, and doubt. We have all been there.

But do you know why this is good news? You are surrounded by sisters who can share your tears and cheer you on to true wholeness. We have all been disappointed in people, events, and maybe even what God has allowed to happen. But despite our doubts, we have a Savior who understands brokenheartedness and who is orchestrating every minute detail of our lives. Remember when Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem? He said, How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37). By beginning this study, we are saying that we are willing for Jesus to gather us under His wings. There is no safer refuge, and like a mother hen, He is willing to die to protect His chicks. With an advocate like that, what is there to fear?

The book of Jude ends with some of my favorite verses in the Bible: To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joyto the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore (Jude 1:24 NIV). The fact that Jesus can keep me from falling, and not only that, He can present me without fault and with great joy, tells me three things. I dont have to repeat the events of my past. I can live without sin with regard to those events. There can be great joy in my life.

As for my friend who began her own journey to healing on that long-ago day, we spent that autumn with a few other women, talking and praying about life and hard events. We didnt solve all of the problems, but we loved each other and retain those bonds to this day. That is my prayer for those of you who share in this study: that you will love one another, pray together, and cheer each other on to a life of joy, because Jesus came into the world to give us just that.