Unlocked: From Hurt

Have you ever had a cavity? Chances are that even if you haven’t personally experienced the pain of a cavity, you still understand what a cavity is all about. They hurt and you don’t even know they’re there until you bite into something and BAM! Instant pain.

In life and leadership, we can experience a similar kind of hurt – a cavity in our heart. We’re good, trucking along and seemingly out of nowhere we bite into something and it hurts. The cavities in my own heart have come from several different things; the betrayal of a friend, the painful things said about me, the bitterness of broken trust, the damage of emotional abuse. I don’t know what your exact hurt or cavity may be, but I know that the pain can be crippling, not only to us but to our leadership as well.

As people who don’t typically enjoy pain, our natural reaction to being hurt is to back away, to stop biting into things that can cause hurt. We can allow ourselves to grow bitter, resentful, and afraid of being vulnerable with people again. We can let ourselves be taken out of the game and placed on the bench when we are hurt. So how can we become unlocked from hurt so that we can lead and love it? The same way we would fix a tooth cavity; fill it.

1 Peter 5:10 says, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (ESV)

Doesn’t that sound like a pretty great filling? When our cavities are filled by the grace and healing power of God, we can courageously bite into the things that once made us want to cringe, trusting that it will no longer cause us the same pain. We are able to experience the power of the Lord made perfect in our weakness like 2 Corinthians 12:9 talks about. We can be unlocked from hurt because His grace is enough – because He is enough.

If you are hurting today and have some cavities in your heart, don’t go through it alone. Reach out to a friend, a mentor, or a Christian counselor and allow God to fill those broken pieces and cavities so that you can lead and love it.