When Healing Scares You.

When it scares you to heal--that's when you should heal. Take a breath. I know transparency is scary, and your scars are covered in fresh cotton and a seemingly smiling face, but you won't heal if you've enveloped in false happiness. When you hold on to what hurts, you're allowing it to metastasize into something it doesn't have to be. Maybe you can't yet grasp the idea of losing a loved one, or failing a test, or not meeting everybody's expectations of you. Letting yourself carry that weight around like it's a part of who you are is allowing yourself to succumb to the storm.Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." You aren't meant to carry your burdens around on your back while your knees cave in. He wants to carry that for you. He wants to see you with your chin up knowing you have put your complete confidence in him. Your grade on that math test or that critique on your art work doesn't define you. The love you lost or maybe didn't receive does not define you. It's when you're walking under a rain cloud with your head buried in despair that kills you and that's when He seeks you most. It's when you're thankful for the thunder and you ask for the sun and it's provided that you finally heal.It can be scary to reveal your wounds and insecurities to the world, and especially yourself. Sometimes you have to break down in order for the light to shine through and breaking down might not be easy for you, or maybe it's too easy.  It's the getting back up that scares you because you don't think that you will ever be able to. I know this feeling all too well. But, I promise you will. You will see that you aren't your dark days. You will see that you can whisper to God and that brick wall you had built so high around yourself will crumble down and you will walk out without a scratch.You know that quote, "When it feels scary to jump, that's exactly when you should jump..."? When it scares you to heal, that's when you should heal, otherwise you won't be able to find the beauty in your inner-self and the grace-filled wonder of your perfectly carved out journey. When you're given that chance to heal those internal wounds, take it, run with it, find his perfect light, and never look back.words and photo by Tiffany Campbell