Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

~Psalm 6:2 ESV

Walking Wounded

“Mama, what does lame mean? Dada said the rocky horse went lame.”

“When a real horse or animal is lame, it cannot walk any more; something is wrong with its legs.”

Daniel thought for a minute. “But the rocky horse doesn’t have legs. How did it go lame?”

I snickered, “Dada was making a joke. People say their horse is lame when it can’t go anymore. The rocky horse can’t go anymore because it’s broken.”

As the lightbulb came on for Daniel, it also came on for me. We walk around wounded all the time. Emotionally lame. Beaten up by circumstances, abuse, neglect, and fear. Spiritually limping. Harboring questions and doubts about God’s love, faithfulness, goodness, and fairness. Mentally weak. Overwhelmed by responsibilities, decisions, and obligations. Physically exhausted. Bodies bent under the weight of the spiritual, mental, and emotional overload along with any other physical ailments we might already have.

Walking Healed

But we keep trying to walk even though we are wounded. And as we go, we bleed our brokenness on others–through our anger, emotional extremes, and protective hardness. We might put the balm of religion on the wound from time to time or the balm of friendship–maybe even the balm of rest.

But we never stop. And we never give our wound a name. We never call it bitterness, unforgiveness, insecurity, or fear. We just keep walking, hoping the occasional ointment will help. But the wound gets larger under the protective layers we heap on top. And we dare not look at the wound because the tears might overwhelm us. The emotions might be too big, or we might just fall apart.

Yet, if we would name the wound, we could treat the problem. Instead, we push the hurt aside until the wound becomes so big that it controls us and how we see the world. We create protective boundaries, isolate ourselves, and go through the motions.

Lame. Limping. Weak. Exhausted. Wounded.

Then what happens? “The Rocky Horse can’t go anymore because it’s broken.” Eventually, we lose ourselves—our passions, our love, our belief, our faith, our relationships, and our hope.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

~Jeremiah 17:4 ESV

We will never experience life to the fullest if we aren’t wholly there to enjoy it. We must slow down, stop, and name the hurts. Then we need to take time to deal with them. Find a counselor, pastor, or friend. Go to church and connect with other believers. Hit our knees and do business with God. Healing will never happen until we stop and take care of ourselves. Let’s stop walking wounded.

Think of some areas where you are walking wounded. How can you find healing? 

Dear Father, please open my eyes to the areas I don’t want to see. Expose the reality of my brokenness and place the right events and support in my life so that I can work on the healing journey. Amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2024: Walking Wounded: Christy Bass Adams: All Rights Reserved