Often, I hear teaching that you are either wounded or healed. But there is no in between. There seems to be no room for the duality of being a healer while you are yet wounded.
I often lack the words to describe being in process.
Yes, we are sealed in Christ‘s redemption yet we are constantly seeking to make that redemption real on earth.
Because we set up this language of either/or: You are healed or broken.. You are ready for ministry or you are wounded… We make it dangerous to be in either role.
The “either/or” declares that we must be one or the other but it is impossible to be both. It draws an invisible but permanent line in the ministry sand.
Ahhh, being wounded! Feels like a permanent label. Sin in any form wounds us and it will not be completely absent until we are taken up to our Father. If the line is in place, when do we decide we are healed enough to be a healer?
“Either/or” makes it treacherous to be in ministry and suddenly find yourself wounded. After all, if you are in ministry and become wounded, does this mean you have to step out? That you are suddenly disqualified from serving Christ?
Crazy as it seems it creates an “us” and “them” mentality. The “haves” and the “have nots.” The “healed” and the “wounded.” (Maybe this is exactly what keeps the openly wounded from entering church doors these days?)
I believe that we are called IN THE PROCESS.
Abiding in Christ, sitting at his feet, making yourself at home in his love is what allows us to be both wounded and healer.
My dear friend Linda Crawford and I shared in such an experience. Miraculously we both came wounded and God allowed us to be healers in the midst of Facebook messaging. Though I don’t yet have the words to explain it I can share a glimpse of our friendship, where we are walking out the duality of our roles. We are both wounded and healers by the grace of God, and this is what it looks like:
In your walk of wounded-ness, may you find grace to be a healer and rest in the duality He has called you to!
A big thank you to Linda Crawford and her divine creativity for the video. You can explore more of her creativity here: www.Linda-Crawford.net
Wounded ~ Healer ~ Warrior 
Beautiful!! :0)
Thanks Juliet! I watch the video over and over again because Christ was so present with Linda and I. It is a constant encouragement to me. Thanks for being a part of my life 🙂 God is doing great things within us and it is spilling over!
Hi Cheryl, dropped by to say thanks for the pingback from my blog! I have been watching your video..very beautiful and inspiring! We are, all of us, wounded, really, aren’t we? But I believe its in the woundedness that God CAN use us…have a great day!
Chere – I love to see God connect his message across cyberspace. I was happy to connect our thoughts to reflect the Father’s heart for all of us. Glad you enjoyed the video. How long have you been blogging?
My 6 month blogging anniversary is actually in two days! I’m excited about this, as it’s taken me a long while to get to the place where I write…without deleting everything! 🙂
Congrats on your anniversary! I started my first blog for the same reason ~ just to turn my fear into courage! Keep writing and sharing of Christ’s redemption for you!
Blessed to share this journey with you! We are wounded healers, able to embrace the reality of our own pain so we can sit with others in the midst of theirs…we heal together! 🙂
I love how God is teaching us to sing in harmony! Same song, different notes, precise message! Thanks for your
friendshipsisterhood 🙂Hear, hear, sister!
“Crazy as it seems it creates an “us” and “them” mentality. The “haves” and the “have nots.” The “healed” and the “wounded.” (Maybe this is exactly what keeps the openly wounded from entering church doors these days?)”
Maybe it is also what prevents people in ministry from being OPEN and HONEST and TRANSPARENT and REAL. If the expectation is perfection, then authenticity will.not.happen.
Paul was wounded (whole thorn in the side thing) and he had that whole healer~warrior thing DOWN. Right?
Exactly! It is hard to learn how to balance the roles, but we must! It is a risk to be vulnerable, but most of the time it is rewarded by someone else being vulnerable too! Paul was a great example as was Christ! Maybe part of the struggle in Gethsemane was Christ being restrained from being a warrior because His wounded-ness was the only answer for all of ours. Hmmm, lots to think about 🙂
So many thoughts and contemplations surrounding this duality (or tri-ality?)…can’t even do my work right now. Teaches me to check your blog before I work – I must wait
until AFTER 🙂
Rachel – I just spent some time writing another post based on our conversation here! Thanks for discussing, wondering and wandering with me. I too am dwelling more and more on how Christ lived out these roles. Hope you are having a blessed day!
Cheryl,
I just discovered your blog and appreciate your comments and the way you look at things.
One way I have been able to avoid and the duality mentality is to see myself and my sisters (saved and unsaved) each on our own journey. We are each at a different place in our journey, have experienced different things. We can share with each other what we have learned and can help each other. I choose to ignore ‘the line’, because I agree with you that we are all called while ‘in the process’.
As Christians, ‘the process’ we have chosen is to step through the narrow gate onto the difficult road of the classic Christian journey toward wholeness in Christ, the path of spiritual formation. I have been reading Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland and he says, “When spirituality is viewed as a journey, however, the way to spiritual wholeness is seen to lie in an increasingly faithful response to the One whose purpose shapes our path, whose grace redeems our detours, whose power liberates us from crippling bondages of the prior journey and whose transforming presence meets us at each turn in the road. In other words, holistic spirituality is a pilgrimage of deepening responsiveness to God’s control of our life and being.”
This journey of spiritual formation defined by Mulholland is a ‘process of being conformed to the image Christ for the sake of others.’ Your experience with Linda is a perfect example of what God calls us to do. Christ calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and love of neighbor is the essence of the Christian life. We are all companions on this pilgrimage; we are called to honesty, transparency and genuine love for one another. I’m a wounded and healing soul here to help another wounded and healing soul on this journey, as are you. That ministry should never end.
Andrea!
I love what you have shared here.
“We are all companions on this pilgrimage; we are called to honesty, transparency and genuine love for one another. I’m a wounded and healing soul here to help another wounded and healing soul on this journey, as are you. That ministry should never end.”
Our Spiritual Formation, an inward journey expressed outwardly to God and our neighbors will never end! Even into Eternity…
Thanks for walking alongside my healing and sharing a bit of your own journey!
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