the road less traveled

Why is it that anything worth fighting for refuses to come easy?

Is not free nor void of pain, trials and suffering? Because sometimes the only way to the life we so desire, is through the rough terrain of the wilderness, through the storms and the winds that beat against our backs, through the heat and the climate the wears, through the shadowlands and the valleys, yet very terrain that strengthens our very souls.

THE BETTER PATH

"The argument of this book is that the best path is through the valley of the shadow of death. The crags of doubt and the valleys of despair offer a proving ground of God that no other terrain can provide. God does show Himself faithful; but the geography is often desert-dry and mountainous-demanding, to the point that the path seems too dangerous to face the journey ahead…

The journey involves bringing our wounded heart before God, a heart that is full of rage, overwhelmed with doubt, bloodied but unbroken, rebellious, stained, and lonely. It does not seem possible that anyone can handle, let alone embrace, our wounded and sinful heart. But the path involves the risk of putting into words the condition of our inner being and placing those words before God for His response. The Lord has promised He will not put out the smoldering flax or break the broken reed (see Isaiah 42:3).

But promises have been made before by a supposedly trustworthy person, and we swore betrayal was the last we would ever allow our soul to experience. The obstacle to life is the conviction that God will damage and destroy us. The problem is that the path does involved His hurting us, but only in order to heal us.

Why does abuse make it so hard to come to the Lord for the succor and life that our souls crave?
What is the enemy to the healing process? In brief, the answer is shame and contempt.

The damage of past abuse sets in motion a complex scheme of self-protective defenses that operate largely outside of our awareness, guiding our interactions with others, determining the spouse we select, the jobs we pursue, the theologies we embrace, and the fabric of our entire lives."

- Excerpt from The Wounded Heart, Dr. Dan Allender (MDiv, PhD) serves as a professor of counseling psychology and president at Mars Hill Graduate School. He travels and speaks extensively to present his unique perspective on sexual abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, worship, and other related topics.