Hurt

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”            Romans 5:3-5

I was hurt this weekend.  So, I prayed on what to do.  I found myself in church asking Jesus how not feel so sad and how to forgive the one I believed hurt me.  It wasn’t long before I feel like I got a message from Jesus that perhaps I should look in the mirror.  Boy, that was hard to accept.  I then went on to come up with excuses why it wasn’t me who was at fault.

So where did I go for an answer…The Bible it is!!

Then I googled to find out what the bible says about being hurt.  And the bible verse above popped.  I then remembered words in a recent homily at Mass which talked to speaking directly with the person who I blamed.  As I write this, I am still struggling with what to do.  When I listened to the homily, I remember thinking that I agreed with everything the priest was preaching.  So, why do I find this so difficult as to what to do?  My feeling is real.  I can let this continue to pull on my heart or I can talk to them about it.

The bible verse………Rejoice in my sufferings? Really?  When the tears are flowing, it’s hard to rejoice in the sadness.  When I feel hurt, sometimes I just want to lash out, sometimes I just cry myself to sleep, and sometimes I need to pray.  In this case, two of the three…cry and pray are in play.  Lots of times, time takes care of the hurt.  And maybe that will happen in this case.  I guess I will soon know.

I feel like the hurt is not just what made me sad, but that the individual doesn’t even realize they hurt me.  I suspect that is a factor in this case.

Forgiveness can heal the heart.

Hurt does provoke suffering.   I suppose the verse is right about suffering producing endurance and endurance -> character -> hope.  I care a lot about the one who I perceive hurt me.  And my faith in Jesus tells me that even if my hurt is real, my heart needs to forgive.  If I don’t, then I am not living the faith I love so much.  I have Jesus’ love and with that is my need to forgive.  I know my friend didn’t mean to hurt me, and that has to count for something.

Feeling hurt or hurting someone else is a saddening experience we all experience from time to time in life.  In a sincere way, it takes courage to forgive those who hurt us.  And with that courage comes humility, which by coincidence, is my new favorite word.

Prayer works

The heart is a delicate gift from God.  It is vulnerable to actions or words by others or ourselves when we say, or do, or fail to do something which may hurt someone we love.  As I write this article, I now know what I need to do.  This article has allowed me to talk through how to get over the hurt.  Yes, I could confront the one who tugged at my heart.  And I still may do that.  But it is also best to listen to Jesus which I did earlier today.

I promise you…I would not have done this not so long ago.  I may have gone the “lashed out” route.  My relationship with Jesus has been enhanced so much in the last couple of years for one reason.  And that reason, in an indirect way, has guided me to ask Jesus’ help to mend my heart.  My faith tells me He will.