From Hurt to Healing
Bible Study
Teena Elrod
These are the outline questions that we
will not only answer but we will use to allow God to speak through His Word to
heal our hearts and satisfy our minds that these issues will be settled once
and for all. The enemy will no longer
lure us into wondering about the when, why and how’s!
We will take one question each session and
go to The Word! As we receive healing
through God’s Word we can begin to release not only our hurts but our old way
of thinking and replace it with God’s GRACE and LOVE by the renewing of our
minds.
1.
Where was God when this happened to me?
2.
Doesn’t He care?
3.
How could a loving God allow this to
happen?
4.
Does God understand how I feel?
5.
Is recovery possible?
6.
How can I be healed?
7.
Where do I begin?
8.
Isn’t forgiveness difficult?
9.
What do I do after I forgive?
10.
Can there be purpose for my hurt?
Before we even begin this study I have to
impart to you that before you can believe what God can do for you, what He has
ALREADY done for you, you have to KNOW who God is! You have to know Him as Lord and Savior. You have to believe that God sent His Son,
Jesus to die on the cross to satisfy our sin (John 3:16). That Jesus died and then rose on the third
day and He now lives (1 Corinthians 15:4)!
That God also sent the Holy Spirit to be with us as our helper until
Jesus returns (John 14:26).
Whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God-God remains in him and
he in God. And we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us! (1 John 4:15-16). Once we settle this we will believe God’s
Word to be TRUTH! God is Who He says He
is and He will do what He says He will do.
His Word is TRUTH! His Word is
LIFE!
There are different degrees of hurt but if
left unresolved it can all take the same deep root inside of us that can cause
delay and even destruction to us and others around us. From time to time people will hurt our
feelings. It may be an unkind word or
the action of ignoring us in some way or just simply not acknowledging our
feelings. Those may not seem like the
big hurts of divorce or losing a loved one but if left unattended the root will
start to take form. It’s important to
recognize the players in our life. Here
are three key points that if recognized can save us a lot of heartache! First, God is always for us and never works
against us! He created us with a destiny
of success. Second, the devil is always
roaming and seeking who he can destroy and who he can use to destroy
others! He is against us. Third, our minds lead us! Now let me back all that up with
scripture: John 10:10 The thief (the enemy; the devil) comes to
kill, steal and destroy. I (Jesus) have come to give life and give it in
abundance! Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good
and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and
acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you).
These truths will start to build a foundation
to your healing from past, present and future hurts.
Now, what is your story? Do you carry a few big hurts or maybe you,
like most of us, have just accumulated small hurts along the way of life? Maybe you have many small hurts mixed in with
a few big ones that you think you will never be able to overcome. You feel that you have forgiven but the hurt
is still there? Maybe you’re afraid to forget the hurts that have scared
you? These are all questions and thoughts
that I had for many years. In fact, I
treaded water for so long and got so tired that I thought I would surely
drown. It was ONLY by the GRACE and LOVE
of God that I was able to move past my past and live in my present and be
expectant of my future! God is good and
His goodness is what will heal you! We
will gain understanding through His Word that will set us on a path of freedom
that the enemy has denied us long enough!
Here we go!
Session
1
In this session we will lay out our hurts
and offences. Take time to really
examine your heart and mind. This is very important because if we do not
acknowledge what we are bound with there will be no real freedom from it! I want you to write down on paper the hurt
you desire to be free from. No one has
to read it and you do not have to share it.
Although I can tell you from experience that while I did feel a release
from my hurt when I wrote it down, my freedom came when I shared it. But if you can only share it with God then
that is great. I remember a time that I
wrote a letter to a person that had caused me pain and after I wrote it I threw
it away. That person never even knew I
wrote the letter but I shared it with God and healing took place in me! There is just something about admitting the
hurt or offence out loud that carries power.
I believe that the enemy desires for us to keep things secret and hidden
so that he can convince us we are all alone.
If you have just one person that you can trust I encourage you to
confide in and share with them. They do
not even have to necessarily give you advice or answers but if you can just
speak your heart out loud then it’s not secret anymore! The enemy loses power when we come out of the
darkness!
I am trusting God to cover you with His
grace as you complete this first step to healing.
Session
2
As we begin with our questions I encourage
you to keep notes, or a journal through this process. God will speak to you and I want you to be
able to go back when the enemy tries to attack you, and use the WORD and
revelation God gives to you to protect your mind from the enemy’s lies.
Question 1
Where
was God when this happened to me? He was with you then and He is with you
now.
I can assure you that God is true to his
Word and when He says that He will never leave us or forsake us, we can take
that to the bank! Remember that we have
already settled the issue that God’s Word is TRUTH!
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
keeping watch upon the evil and the good.
This verse tells us two things; God is
always there (watching) and there is good and evil and He sees it all.
We have known there is good and evil ever
since Adam and Eve but we often question why we face evil today. We will talk more about this later but for
now I want to stay on the topic of God being with us.
Deuteronomy 31:8 It is
the Lord Who goes before you; He will (march) with you; He will not fail you,
fear not, neither become broken (in spirit, depressed, dismayed, and unnerved
with alarm).
Deuteronomy 31: 6 Be strong, courageous and firm: Fear not nor be in terror before them, for it
is the Lord your God Who goes with you.
He will not fail you or forsake you.
These are some very powerful truths and
promises! What God did for Moses He
promises to do for you and me!
I know that it’s hard to understand how God
can “be with us” and tell us to “have no fear” when we have endured such pain
but what we must understand is that His Word is true even when it doesn’t look
or feel like it in the natural. He is
always at work in the supernatural. Know that you are loved today by The One Who
crated LOVE; He IS Love! He was with you
when you were attacked by hurt and He is with you now! You are not on this journey by accident. He has a Word for YOU that will set you
free!
Session
3
I trust that God has already begun to open
your heart to the healing that you long for and that He longs to manifest in
your life. Today’s truth is going to blow the lid off of everything the enemy
has ever tried to tell you about God’s love for you!
Question 2
Doesn’t God care about me? YES He does!
Oh beloved I am going to let God’s Word
speak to YOU right now!
1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt
you. Casting the whole of your care (all
your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all) on Him,
for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully!
Just let that sink in for a minute!
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God- So rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great
and wonderful and intense love which He loved us, even when we were dead by our
shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in
union with Christ; It is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve)
that you are saved!
And one of my favorites;
Zephaniah 3:17 The
Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior (Who saves)! He will rejoice over you with joy; He
will rest (in silent satisfaction) and in His love He will be silent and make
no mention (of past sins or even recall them); He will exalt over you with
singing!!!
This is out of one of my study bibles: Do you ever wonder how much God really loves
you? Zephaniah 3:17, in Hebrew, gives
the image that God literally “spins around” with joy over you and that he sings
and shouts over you with joy! God has
not only saved you from His wrath through Jesus, but He delights in you! Thank God for His great love for you, and ask
Him to help you understand the depths of His love for you even more fully.
That should put a mighty pep in your
step! The Bible is packed full of “love
notes” to us from our Heavenly Father!
The very foundation of Who He is can be found in His love for US!
Session
4
In this session we will answer one the most
frequently asked questions! Remember
that we are renewing our minds and that means to put away our old way of
thinking and replacing it with God’s truth.
I personally have asked this question more times than I can count. Today holds freedom if you are willing to
accept it.
Question 3
How could a loving God allow this to
happen? Because He is true to His Word.
Genesis
1:31 And God saw EVERYTHING that
He had made, and behold, it was very GOOD and He approved it completely!
1 John
4:8 He who does not know love has
not become acquainted with God, for GOD IS LOVE!
The very nature of God is LOVE. There is no evil in Him. It goes against His character to do anything
outside of love. For God to give us the
ability to experience love, He had to also give us the ability to choose
because love always involves a CHOICE!
God has, however given us free will and by
free will I mean CHOICES. When God
created everything and it was good and He was love, His desire for us was
LOVE. He wants all things good for
us. But there are two things that
introduce evil into our world; sin and choices!
Now, because of the abuse of free will
(choices) there are two kinds of evil that we deal with in our lives; Moral
evil and Natural evil.
Moral evil: is what we bring on ourselves when we choose
to be selfish, arrogant, uncaring, hateful or abusive. All these attitudes go directly against God
and His Love.
Natural evil is
what we are affected by indirectly; Tornados, earthquakes, ect.
Deuteronomy
30:15 See, I have set before
you this day life and good, and death and evil.
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in Me you will have peace and
confidence. In the world you have
tribulation and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer for I
have overcome the world. (I have
deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you)!
Some of the “bad” we have in our lives we
bring on ourselves but some are really out of our control. We all have that
ability to choose good or evil and what we choose will affect others because we
are all on this earth living together. But the good news is that according to God’s
Promise in Romans 8:28 We are assured
and know that (God being a partner in their labor) all things work together and
are (fitting into a plan) for good to and for those who love God and are called
according to (His) design and purpose.
It’s important that before we end this
session that we are clear as to who the evil one is. If it’s not God who is out to harm us then
who is it? John 10:10 The thief (Satan) comes only in order to steal,
kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that
you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it
overflows)!
It is very clear that it is Satan, our enemy
that seeks to steal, kill and destroy the plan that God has for us.
Live your life with peace but be very
aware. This is why filling our minds
with TRUTH is so important!
Session
5
We are learning more and more of the
character of God and How He sees us.
Replacing all the lies that our enemy tells us, with the TRUTH.
Question 4
Does God understand how I feel? Oh, YES!
He understands more than we will ever
comprehend.
Hebrews
4:15 For we do not have a High
Priest that is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling
with our weakness and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation,
but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without
sinning.
Isaiah
53:3 He was despised and
rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pain, and acquainted with
grief and sickness, and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised
and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.
Jesus felt everything we feel today and
more! He didn’t complain even though He
must have felt intense pain yet He did not allow it to prevent Him from
fulfilling His purpose! He has
experienced pain and rejection beyond anything we will ever experience so He
not only understands, according to Hebrews 4:15, He also sympathizes with
us. What an immense comfort to know that
our God understands us! And because of His
great and deep love for us, He also offers to take and carry our hurts so that
we don’t have to be chained and bound by them!
This is some FREEDOM stuff that we have the ability to take hold of
right now!
1 Peter
5:7 Casting the whole of your
care (all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all)
on Him, for He cares for you watchfully.
Psalm
55:22 Cast your burden on the
Lord (releasing the weight of it) and he will sustain you; He will never allow the (consistently) righteous
to be moved.
These really are simple yet POWERFUL truths! You can choose right now to confess to Him
that you release the weight of whatever it is that burdens you and cast them on
Him! He is faithful to His Word and he
WILL receive those things and leave you standing strong. That is the power that He possesses! And that power will heal you! Go back to
Isaiah 53 and read verses 4 and 5……Surely He has borne our grief’s (sickness,
weakness and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains, yet we considered
Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt
and iniquities; the chastisement, peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and
with the strips (that wounded) Him, we are healed and made whole!
Do you see, that He has already provided
our healing at the cross? The ball is
now in our court and all we have to do is believe it and receive it! Can you
feel the FREEDOM yet?!
Session
6
After the last session I truly hope that
there was some confessing, releasing and receiving of FREEDOM! By now whatever hurt you have been dealing
with has been exposed and from here on out we will concentrate on moving
forward. There is a life that God has
planned for you that will be impossible to fulfill if you continue to drag the
chains of past hurts along.
Question 5
Is recovery possible? YES!
Matthew
19:26 But Jesus looked at them
and said, with men this is impossible,
but all things are possible with God.
Remember back in session 4 when we talked
about choices? Well it is time to put
that into action! It’s not so much that
we just choose to let go, but more like we choose to believe God. When we believe God and take him at His Word
things begin to happen in the natural.
When we can take the verse in Matthew 19 and not just read it but
receive it, there is a power that comes over us. Jesus is saying to YOU….TODAY that there is NOTHING
that is impossible when we trust in Him.
Recovery? That was settled at the
cross and all that is left for us to do is believe it and receive it!
Because the enemy will continue to come at
us we must continually renew our minds with the TRUTH of God’s Word. When Satan tells you that it is impossible to
move past your hurts, remember that God says HE CAN and because He can, YOU
CAN!
Session
7
Now that we know that it is possible let’s
continue to move forward into recovery and freedom!
Question 6
How can I be healed? Trust God to be faithful to His Word.
The only true and lasting healing comes
from the Lord. His Word IS healing so
that is where we go to receive it.
I believe that healing and freedom are one
in the same. When we are free (of
whatever has us in bondage), then we are healed!
John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed
in Him, If you abide in My word you are truly my disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth
will set you free.
The freedom (healing) comes from His
Word! His word holds LIFE!
Luke
11:28 But He said, Blessed
rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it.
John
3:16 For God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will be SAVED!
If God can save us from Hell then there is
nothing He cannot do! The very same
power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that heals us
today! Think back to when you first
believed in God and accepted Him as your Savior. You believed and trusted. Your FAITH in His Word is what changed you
from a dead person to a living child of God.
That faith in His Word is all you need now.
Session
8
So far on this journey to healing we have
exposed our hurts and we have begun to release them and allow God’s Word of
Truth to come in and replace our hurts with His LOVE! We must be mindful that the enemy is
relentless in his plan to kill, steal and destroy God’s plan for us so we
cannot grow lazy in renewing our minds and speaking God’s Word.
Question 7
Where do I begin? With the TRUTH on your tongue.
Knowing that God hears you, speak to
Him. Pour out your hurt and even your
anger. Do not be afraid of hurting His
feelings because remember He already knows and understands how you feel. You have to engage in your relationship with
Christ. Speak to Him and allow Him to
speak to you! Don’t just accept
secondhand information, go to His Word and receive FIRST HAND all that He has
for YOU!
Psalm 34:17-19 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord
hears, and delivers them out of all their distresses and troubles. The Lord is close to those of a broken heart
and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly
penitent. Many evils confront the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have (perfect) peace
and confidence. In the world you will
have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer
(take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted), for I have overcome the world. (I have deprived it of power to harm you and
have conquered it for you)!
Do not be fooled into thinking just because
you overcome these issues you have been dealing with that the enemy will just
leave you alone! God promises us in His
Word that in this world we WILL face trouble, heartaches, trials…..But He also
promises us that if we TRUST in Him, those things will not have power over
us! We can “go through” them confident
that they have no power over us!
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the
tongue and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or
life).
Our spoken word is so important. From the very beginning it was a spoken word
that brought things that didn’t exist into creation! Genesis
1:3 And God SAID, Let there be
light; and there was light!
We cannot be content with just knowing
God’s Word, we must speak it! When we do
not “feel” healed, that is when speaking TRUTH out loud will allow healing
power to rise up within our spirit. Speak
the truth that even though this world brings trouble and hurt to me, I am an
overcomer through Jesus Christ and I rest above the attacks of my enemy! I can walk through life with peace and love
knowing that any suffering that I may endure now will come to pass and my
affect will be to show God’s Glory!
Our words will produce fruit but it is up
to us to choose the quality of that fruit!
Session
9
We have come so far and it will take
everything we have learned up to this point to be able to take this next step
in healing. It’s time to FORGIVE. In this session we will answer two
questions! Prepare for FREEDOM!
Question 8
Isn’t forgiveness hard? It can be!
To be completely honest forgiveness can be
one of the most difficult things to do. Forgiveness
is something that we cannot do in our own power apart from God. We have to once again trust God to be true to
His Word. Not only does He instruct us
to forgive, He also promises to make us able to fulfill His Word.
Colossians 3:13 Be gentle and forbearing with one another,
if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily
pardoning each other, even as the Lord has (freely) forgiven you, you must also
(forgive).
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath
(passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling
and slander be banished from you, along with all malice. And become useful and helpful and kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave
you.
Ok I know these are hard words to
hear! Trust me, I have been hurt in some
ungodly ways and God knows every detail and yet He still offers me freedom
through forgiveness! You see, YOUR
freedom is tied to your action of forgiveness!
I want to be very clear here and tell you that to forgive is not
excusing the offender of his actions. It
is, however, the only way to allow God to enter in and purify and restore
YOU! Because forgiveness deals with us
personally and within our spirit, it does not always require us to go to that
person and have a face to face meeting.
There are times when it is possible and even necessary, but most times
the offender may never even be aware of what is taking place within us. Let me give an example: When I was 18 I was brutally raped by a
stranger. The suffering that he caused
not only to my body but to my mind lasted far beyond the night of the
attack. For years and years I struggled
with what he did to me. It was only
after God reveled to me the truth in the area of forgiveness that I was able to
forgive that man. I did not have to go
to him and tell him that I forgave him.
As far as I know, he doesn’t know anything about me. Forgiveness is about “letting go” of thinking
we have the “right” to be angry and bitter!
Those attitudes go against God and His Love and outside of God’s Love
there will be no healing so don’t expect it!
Question 9
What do I do after I forgive? Move forward!
Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to
have taken hold of it. But one thing I
do, forgetting what is behind and pressing toward what is ahead.
Now I can already hear you saying, “I can
forgive but I will never forget”! That
is true. We do not yet live in a perfect
world (Heaven). While we do posses the
power of The Blood of Jesus, we are still human! Short of having a lobotomy, there are things
that we will remember! Because we cannot
erase our memory we have to learn how to remember with a different
attitude. When I give testimony of how
God restored my life after being raped, homeless and addicted to drugs, I have
to talk about it and I remember it, but my attitude towards it is so
different! When those memories come into
my mind I have the choice to either listen to the enemy, who I know is out to
harm me, or I can focus on where I am going with Jesus, Who is working all
things together for my good and His glory!
I do not plot revenge on my rapist.
In fact, only because of forgiveness though Christ, I pray for him. I pray that he opens his heart to Jesus
before it is too late. And I know that
if he makes that choice, Jesus can restore his live just as He has done in
mine! That my friends, is only possible
with GOD!
This is a good time to talk about “Toxic
People”. There are going to be people in
our lives that no matter how hard we try, they are on a path to destroy
everyone in their way. They are usually
very negative and critical in their speech.
If the people around you are not encouraging you and supporting you then
you need to evaluate that relationship. It
is vital to surround ourselves with the right people. And it is just as vital to BE the right
person. So choose your circle on
purpose, encouraging and supporting one another! This is how others will know Jesus! This kind of relationship (friendship) is not
possible in our natural ability! Only
when we are operating within the Love of God can this type of relationship
occur.
It is important to remember that every time
you open an old hurt ( or visit it with the wrong attitude) you invite all that
comes with it. We may not forget the
event or person that hurt us but our attitude of love will allow the hurt to be
void and our testimony to be productive.
Session
10
This session has the potential to move you
beyond just healing and into purpose!
Question 10
Can there be purpose for my hurt? ABSOLUTELY
Having understanding of these two verses
have changed my life!
John 10:10
The thief (Satan) comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came
that they may have life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it
overflows)!
Romans 8:28 We are assured and know that (God being a
partner in their labor) all things work together and are (fitting into a plan)
for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design
and purpose!
First we know that God did not cause or
bring on our hurt! He does not cause
others to hurt us. The enemy is the
influence of evil and because of our freedom to choose, some people choose evil
and that affects us. Just because it
affects us does not mean it defines us nor does it control us. Because of God and His LOVE and goodness and
ability, He works all things for our good.
He takes what the enemy intends to destroy us with and He turns it for
our good and His glory! The enemy
attacks and lures us into thinking that with each mistake (either on our part
or at the hands of another), comes scars that can never heal. The truth of God assures us that we do not
have to be defined by our scars. His
Love heals! We can be defined by His
Love and not our past hurts! When God
restores us and we share that with others, the healing comes from within us and
God uses that to heal others! You see,
God didn’t have to cause you pain to restore you in order for His glory to be
seen. He is GOD, He can show forth His
glory without us! Ever seen the SUN
suspended in the sky? A flower come up
out of the MUD? The ocean with all it’s power, STOP at the shore? A sunset with such brilliant colors you can
hardly take it in? None of those things
involve us and yet it screams His GLORY!
There is healing in our testimony. When we choose to allow God’s Love to
overtake our need to figure everything out then we are able to see a bigger
picture. When we begin to choose to run
to His Word (Scripture) instead of dwelling on the past then we become
affective for the Kingdom! When
advancing the Kingdom becomes the desire of our heart there is nothing God
cannot accomplish through us! That is
why it’s so vital that we allow His Word to heal us and help us move past the
hurts in our lives. We get hurt, we
apply His Truth, we move forward and share that TRUTH with others! That is advancing the Kingdom! God’s LOVE covers everything!
Mark 5:19
But Jesus refused to permit him, but said to him, go home to your own
(family and relatives and friends) and bring back word to them of how much the
Lord has done for you, and how he had sympathy and mercy on you.
So share your story of restoration! Share how God’s love has healed you. Because you are worthy of God’s love and
healing, your story is worthy to be told!
Only you can tell your story as a first hand witness at what God has
done in your life! It will not only
increase your spirit but all those who hear it as well. Enjoy this new life of FREEDOM and share it
with others!!!