Another short but inspiring article by Gill Newham missionary to Mongolia
The Wounded Spirit.
We often walk in the woods. During the winter months we kept our heads down and ploughed a path through the snow. It was a sheltered place to walk and protected us from the worst cruelties of the winter. But with the Lunar New Year over we’re officially into spring and the places we’ve walked are changing.
With each passing day the warmer temperatures melt the snow that’s covered the hills and paths since November. We’ve started taking time to sit out on a tree stump and drink our coffee. Above the trees we can see the amazing blueness of the sky, and we can hear the woodpeckers hammering on tree trunks. Small birds are returning and the tall pines are growing new needles. All around there are signs of new life, but in the midst of it all we’ve noticed that many of the silver birches are bent to the ground. Have they been weighted down with snow or damaged by the wind and ice? Or are they diseased on the inside? We don’t know but from their blackened branches and dry orange leaves they look crushed.
Seeing them reminds us how we too have times when we are bowed down and crushed. We can be physically sick and worn down. Or through repeated disappointment and discouragement we can become listless and, sometimes, even feel like we’ve lost the desire to live.
The world tells us that happiness is determined by external situations but I don’t fully believe that. When I was younger the answers to life’s problems seemed easy, more black and white, but as I get older I realise that life is more complicated. We are complex beings. The Bible tells us that man is created in the image of God. Yes! We are created in His image, fearfully and wonderfully made, people with extraordinary senses, remarkable minds that are more superior to any computer in this world and hearts that are filled with rich emotions.
Therefore the remedies for a crushed or wounded spirit cannot be pat answers. They do not fit neatly into one or two sentences but somehow our restoration involves getting the gospel into the very depths of our heart, and that is not easy. We love God but there are barriers. We struggle with relationships, people are awkward and difficult and they hurt us. Anger grips us and bitterness festers. We hide our emotions and disobey God. Guilt weighs us down and our own depravity makes us sick.
We’ve placed our hope in ourselves. We’ve placed our hope in the things of this world rather than God: the things in this world that move and break and eventually die. Our careers finish, our material possessions fall away or relationships end in death. Our trust in the visible world smashes our hopes, leaving us with wounded hearts and crushed spirits.
We are complex people, created in the amazing image of God. So let’s pray that God would give us hearts of wisdom to have confidence in the complexities of life. Let’s pray that He would strengthen us in our inner beings. We are totally dependent on Him and we need a sense of Him with us. We need to be able to see Him putting His love and truth into our hearts because only God can truly fill the emptiness — He alone is the true hope of our hearts, the ultimate tree of life. Take hold of the gospel and let it work in you on the inside that we might stand upright, healthy and whole, confident in Him.