They say time heals all wounds, but without taking the steps to heal, time just fills the hole in your heart with numbness and isolation. If you’re healing is slow, it’s okay and even normal. You cannot expect the pain that was years in the making to be gone overnight. Just keep walking, keep moving in the direction of healing and freedom and you’ll get there eventually. It is not a race. Your healing is unique to you, and it will not look like anyone else’s path, but that’s okay. In the meantime, here are some things that may help.

I consider all of the things that I would do differently if I knew then what I know now. But then I think, how would I know what I know now if I had never had those painful experiences? My stomach knots up and I get teary, depressed, and anxious when I think about those things. But I would not go back and change them. The simple truth is that there is so much I would have never learned without the difficult times.

In Psalm 62:8, David implores us to trust God enough to pour out our hearts to Him and to run to Him as a refuge in difficult times. This is one of my favorite verses. It makes me think of sitting and crying and talking things out with a close friend - someone who is listening, not in judgment waiting to criticize me, but with love and compassion because that friend loves me, knows my heart, and understands what I am going through.