Man that hurt...BAD!

Hurt comes to people in many ways. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual... Recently, I've experienced hurt. The other day, I was getting my son ready and being the wiggle worm that he is, I ended up hurting myself. Trying to button his pants, my hand slipped and my thumb nail went into my other thumb and made a deep cut. It took a chunk of skin.....man that hurt!!!! So, we were in a rush and I had to immediately get in the shower. Well, I forgot about this wound that was still open; however, that didn't last long. Once the shower began to flow and it hit my hand...the aching, shooting pain seemed endless. The whole time I could only think that if I just had a band aid it wouldn't hurt as bad, if at all. It would be protected. Instantly, a thought came to me. Often times in life, we carry around open wounds. As long as they aren't touched or bothered by something, then they are okay (or so they seem). A lot of times we do this with our walk with Jesus. We are doing something we know we aren't supposed to, we don't deal with things, we have hurt people, people have hurt us, we sin, we ignore it, whatever it is....it's an open wound that we choose to ignore. However, at some point that wound is going to get rained on or showered on. Just like when I got in the shower and the water hit that cut, it began to hurt. All that water was doing though was cleaning it, washing away the dirt, germs, blood... Now and then, God will rain down or shower down on us. Whether it be in a Sunday message, a friend telling us something (because they are a friend), conviction from reading the Truth; well, regardless of how it comes, it hurts. Just like I wanted to put a band aid on my open aching wound, we tend to do that in other situations. Let's just cover it up, ignore it, deal with it only when we have to. Hurts don't resolve themselves, because they eventually show back up sooner or later. In fact, sometimes our hurt is hurting someone else. Take care of the hurt. Eventually, the pain will leave. Forgive. Work through it. See it as a blessing, God has decided to shower on you so you can remember to deal with it. Give it to Him. Change whatever created or caused the hurt. Develop a new attitude. Fast. Pray. Sometimes that's all we can do, is pray. I have other hurts in my life right now and all I can do is pray. To be honest, it's frusterating....I want to fix it, NOW. That's another lesson, patience....I will be patient while I pray. In the end though, don't band aid it, let God rain down and wash it clean and let the healing begin.