Hidden Hurt

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.   Proverbs 15:13 (NIV)

As I read this verse today it caused me to think twice.  Yes, a happy heart certainly makes the face cheerful but often a cheerful exterior can hide a mountain of pain.  Just like this pretty window, one never knows just what goes on behind that glass. Underneath a cheerful exterior, heartache can be crushing the life out of a person's spirit and crippling them emotionally.

I have known, and probably still know, people who seem wonderfully happy, kind and caring people, yet their cheerfulness hides great anguish.  Sometimes it is possible to even hide our hurt from ourselves.  In fact part of the mind's coping mechanism for deep trauma is to blot out the memory of hurts when they are too painful to deal with. 

The thing with such hurt though is that at some time or another, it will come to the surface in some way.  It may be triggered by another traumatic incident, it could manifest as deep and unreasonable anger or, if that anger is stifled, it can turn into depression. It can also result in bitterness which prevents us from having healthy relationships.  Heartache is destructive; it crushes the spirit if it is not dealt with.

I was listening to a man on the radio telling his story of a terrible childhood with a mentally ill mother who rejected him and treated him so badly that he ran away and lived a very reckless life.  He was the life and soul of the party and he took great risks which made him a hero to his peers, but all the time his pain was lurking, ready to do him harm, and one day, in the midst of a normal and happy life many years later, he lapsed into a 12 year period of depression.  Obviously he has now dealt with his pain through counselling and learning to forgive the mother who greatly hurt him, and he now, thanks to God, he leads a happy and mentally healthy life.  But his story could have ended so differently.

If you have issues with past hurt, don't be afraid to bring them to the light and allow God to bring healing to you.  Talk first to Him about them and allow Him to lead you down a path of healing that will release you from all that can crush and even destroy your spirit.  If you know others who need God's healing love, encourage them, pray for them and support them, through prayer, back to wholeness.  God is able to use every experience of life, even if it is a negative one, to teach us and enrich our life.  Let your smile be genuine and your spirit strong so that the enemy has nothing hidden with which to do you harm.

Prayer:  God of love and comfort, help me to allow any past hurts to rise to the surface and be healed so that my spirit is strong and whole and my life free of hidden pain.  Amen