Healing Comes Through Making Yourself Vulnerable

There is a vulnerability that comes in revealing your hurt and brokenness with others. You open yourself up to criticism, to misunderstanding and are exposing a part of yourself that is fragile and delicate.

When you lay open those inner layers of your heart, there is opportunity for others to either be a healing balm or to further wound. It's frightening to be transparent and vulnerable. 

But there is also healing in the vulnerability. Healing for the one being brave enough to say, "This area is not okay." and healing for the ones listening. The healing comes when others realize that they are not alone. Those wounded places have been shared by others. And there is healing when others can listen and speak words of encouragement and love to the hurting one.

Yet so many of us walk through life with a mask on. The mask hides the pain and sorrow we feel. It keeps people from coming to close. What if someone sees the real me, hurts and all, and rejects me? The mask prevents further wounds. 

Jesus opened himself up to being wounded by the very people He came to love. His disciples ran away and left him alone. They didn't understand his words or even his heart. As He hung alone on the cross in agony, He could have thought, "Why did I make myself vulnerable?" 

But His suffering and the rejection He experienced brings restoration and healing to my own woundedness. Christ working through my pain gives me the courage to share with others so they too can know the healing He brings. 

God making Himself vulnerable is the key to our own life. In our vulnerability there is healing. In our shared experiences there is the ability to recognize that we are not alone. 

In our willingness to lay our hearts bare, God can mend those wounded spaces and make us whole again. He can apply a healing balm to our souls and work through the pain to make us a blessing to others. 

God working in my pain and brokenness can be the thing that brings hope to those going through similar pain. My willingness to share how God is working in me can bring light to those feeling as if they are floundering in the dark. 

Never be afraid to be vulnerable. Because in the vulnerability comes healing, restoration and hope.