Good day everyone, I hope and pray that you all had a beautiful weekend. I just celebrated my 53rd birthday, and am so excited to see what's next on my adventure called life. I am so thankful to everyone of you who have subscribed to my podcast. I truly appreciate you all, as I do this for you and prayerfully it is helping you deal with some of your past hurts, and even learn how to deal with present situations in life. As I stated before, I am not a licensed Psychologist, but I am an Ordained Minister and through the word of the Lord, I have learned that it is healing in the word of God, if you would just trust the word of God and read it for yourself.

Life situations happen and sometimes we just don't know how to handle things in life, we need a guide. If I hadn't picked up the Bible for myself, there is no telling where I would be at this point in my life. I shared with you some devastating experiences, not to have a pity party, or to get sympathy, but to show you that there is someone that has gone through and overcame adversity. To show you the listener that there is hope on the otherside of your adversity. Many people are going through hurts from past wounds, and current wounds now, and they need to know that they are not alone. Today, I walk in victory from the bondage of past wounds and even the new wounds that are to come. I had to learn how to deal with adversity in life, it is a life skill that should be taught, but the only way you get educated on it, is to live through it. Fortunately, those of us that have had some hardships in life, are willing to share our stories with you, either through books, podcasts or testimonies in church, or motivational speaking. Whatever, your story is, know that you can help someone and possibly save lives. There is so much turmoil out here in society today and people need to hear a story of victory, it will give them hope in the midst of their adversity.

Today, we will talk briefly about What's next on your healing Journey, although the title says What's next on my healing journey? Make this personal for you and your healing journey.

Take a leap of faith, get to know people without trying to have an instant love connection. Try talking about different interests you may have, ask probing questions to see if they are compatible to your likes and dislikes. Take one step at a time, most importantly dump your baggage from old relationships before trying something new, it could end badly, especially if you hadn't healed. We don't want rebound relatonships to happen it just compounds the past hurts. It makes the healing take that much longer.

When starting over seems to be too hard, it's just the wounds keeping you in a place called fear. We have to push past the fear of the unknown, take that leap, you may find out that what you were afraid of was just an over active imagination derived from fear. We talked about fear last week, it's false evidence appearing real.

II Timothy 1: 7 ESV states: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self control. or the king james version says a sound mind.

Fear tries to keep us bound, it hinders us in our walk with Christ, and in relatonships, it also keeps us from the destiny that the Lord has predestined for us.

To heal you will have to face some fears, some truths about yourself, and this is where you have to be honest with yourself. What are you willing to face? What are you willing to let go of in order to be healed? Some wounds are designed to stagnate you, to keep you imprisoned, to cause you emotional paralysis to the point you can't move on from the pain, it causes mental anguish, and despair, and some can cost you, your life. Fear is derived from a past wound of the heart or mind, we don't like to feel pain, noone does, but the truth of the matter, is that we will in some way feel betrayed. It doesn;t have to be in marriage, it could be in a friendship relationship, or a work relationship, it could be family portrayal, no matter which way it comes pain is a part of life. It doesn't have to render you helpless and as a wounded bird waiting to be destroyed as prey. We get up and learn from experiences called life, and we try our best to move on to a place called healed. That's why it's a journey to healing.

Don't get attached to people that it makes it hard to let them go when they disappoint your expectations of them. Learn what matters to you and stay focused. Find a purpose, your purpose. Just because you priortize your life and the things that matter to you, doesn't mean that you are being arrogant, or that you're putting yourself on a pedestal, it just means that you are searching for what makes you happy and complete. Once you realize the lessons from life experiences, you will be able to look back on them and thank the people who caused you the pain. Why? Because they helped you become the strong individual you have become today. You may not see it now, but I know by first hand experience.

I pray that this episode of open the wound has helped you, given you some clarity in whatever your situation may be. I pray that you find healing, for your mind, body, spirit and soul.

Thanks for listening and subscribing. Have a beautiful rest of your week.