How to Tell when It’s a Season to Heal

Do you ever get confused by the weather? Do you ever think the weather itself is confused? I’m looking out the window watching the rain fall on a completely sunny day! Yes, it’s dumping rain at the same time the sun is shining. Does it do that where you live? It does it here in Virginia. All. The. Time.

It’s like God spun the weather spinner, and it stopped on the line between “Sunshine” and “Dumping Rain.” The angels are like, “Liner! Bummer, Lord. Shall we spin it again?” And the Lord goes, “No, it’s fine. Sunny and rainy, I’m God, I can do that. Watch this.” And bam, I need my sunglasses while turning on my wipers. Crazy!

The changing of seasons in our lives can be like that. Sudden and startling. Contradictory things start happening. Old, secure comfortable ways get uncomfortable. The grace for certain activities is just gone. What used to work no longer works. Ever experience this?

Often God does this on purpose when he brings us into a season of healing. In inner-healing lingo, it’s called “overloading our structures.”

Here’s what happens. We get wounded, which is not our fault; it’s someone else’s sin against us. But we respond sinfully with a false judgement, a foundational lie, about the world, about God, about ourselves, or about how we can expect to be treated.

• “I’m bad. I’m dirty.”
• “I’m not lovable.”
• “Men will always abuse me.”
• “You can’t trust women.”
• “God isn’t there for me. He doesn’t care.”
• “People will always reject me.”
• “Emotions are bad. Emotions can kill you.”

Based on that judgement, we make sinful inner vows to protect our own heart, instead of trusting God.

• “I’ll never have emotions.”
• “I’ll take care of myself.”
• “I’ll never trust anyone.”
• “I’ll never be vulnerable.”
• “I’ll always be the good person so people will love me.”
• “I’ll always stay in control. Then I’ll be safe.”

Then the enemy says, “Look what they’ve decreed over their own life. I can help them with that.” This is why some people seem to have an invisible bulls-eye on them; for example, abusive partners are just drawn to them. They keep making the same relationship mistakes over and over again.

So events happen in our lives to reinforce that foundational lie, we double-down on our inner vows, and around the track we go again. This builds up a whole spiritual defensive structure around us, effectively defending us from God’s love and his destiny for our lives.

But you might ask, “I don’t want to be out of control. Being in control sounds like a good thing. How does being in control block God’s destiny for my life?” Believe me, if you’re living out God’s destiny for your life, it’s not something you could have planned for yourself. It’s an adventure. You are definitely not in control.

As CS Lewis said in The Magician’s Nephew, “O sons of Adam, how well you defend yourselves from everything that would do you good.”

The good news is, God won’t tolerate it forever. He loves us too much. He often allows it for a season, perhaps as a defense mechanism so a child can survive trauma. But when he knows it’s time for us to receive healing, God brings us into a new season. He knows when we’re ready, even if we don’t even realize there’s a wound at all.

The problem is, the sick way is all we know and we think it’s normal. And it is normal for us. It’s how we’ve lived. It’s how we were raised. It is all we know. But while it may be common, it’s not healthy, and it’s certainly not the Kingdom freedom he has for us.

So God starts overloading our structures. He brings situations, events, and people into our lives where the old coping mechanisms don’t work anymore. How we coped was how we hid the wound, often even from ourselves. But he wants to heal the wound, so he has to expose it, so our coping mechanisms stop working.

When the way you’ve coped in the past no longer works, God is bringing you into a season of healing. He wants to heal that root wound that’s been festering all these years. Rejoice and cooperate with the process. You’re about to experience more freedom than you’ve ever known.

Seasonal transitions can be rough. They drive my sinuses crazy. The weather patterns seem to be at war with themselves. And you never know what to wear. I end up changing clothes twice a day. But God’s healing is worth it.

How about you? Are you going through a transition? Find a trusted friend and share with them what you’re going through. Or your pastor or small group leader. Or email us, although it’s better if you can share with someone spiritually mature in your life. Maybe they can help you identify some inner vows God wants to heal. Often others can see what God’s doing in our lives better than we can, since they’re not so close to it. Tell us your story in the comments. And please share if this post would bless someone else.