Healing Starts with Love | 3 Truths to Jumpstart Recovery

Sep 19

Do you remember a time you fell in love? It’s like walking on cloud nine, right? Food tastes better, the sun shines brighter and you feel limitless, walking around with a cheesy smile on your face. Staying up late on the phone and going on little sleep doesn’t matter. Why? Because you’re running on love.

Then at some point, the intoxicating endorphin train ends and that daily feeling of bliss goes away. But what if we could live each day feeling this kind of joy again? What if we were created to experience this deep, soul-filling love every day?

First let me say if you’re looking to get your love bucket filled up by people, chances are you’re going to come up short. That’s not a slam against your loved ones—I’m sure they’re fabulous—but it’s impossible for any human to fulfill all of our needs perfectly.

That’s where God comes in.

During my healing journey, God taught me his most important lesson: healing starts with love. His love. In fact, God showed me how to fall in love with Him, and I learned how His perfect, unconditional, over-the-top, lavish love brings tangible spiritual growth and healing that leads to an abundant life.

But here’s the thing: many people struggle to feel God’s love. Maybe you’ve never tasted his personal love and can’t grasp it. Or you used to feel his love but can’t seem to find it anymore. Others wrestle feeling unworthy, not understanding it’s a free gift. Whatever the reason holding you back from experiencing the love of God, trust He is waiting to connect with you. I promise.

Although I could write a giant dissertation on love and healing, let’s just start with 3 fundamental truths to get you started.

1. God is unconditional love.

Notice the verb there. The Bible says God IS love (1 John 4:16). Love is what makes up his being. Love is his true nature.

Unfortunately, religions and churches often distort this absolute truth which pushes people away from God, the Bible and Jesus. That was certainly my story. To me, Christians should look one way (good, perfect, nice, etc) and when they didn’t, I blamed them—and their God.

When I was sick in the desert, I started reading the Bible with Brian, a man suffering from the same illness as me looking for “clean air” in the dry American southwest. At that time, I didn’t believe in God, and I dragged Jesus through the mud in my conversations with Brian.

“You know you belong to a religious cult, right?”
“Believing in God makes you delusional.”
“Just so you know, you’ll never convince me Jesus is real.”

I was a down and out God-hater. And guess what? God loved me anyway! Even as I threw insults at Him and denounced Jesus, God still longed to pour himself out for me.

And Brian? He modeled perfect love and grace as I attacked and disrespected his views. He knew it wasn’t his place to convince me—God could defend himself—and the best thing he could do was be Christ’s example. And that’s what drew me in—witnessing Brian’s love for God and their intimate relationship.

All it took was for me to reach out to God and ask him to come near, and He did. That’s unconditional love.

2. God is waiting on you to open your heart.

That may sound a little cheesy, but it’s true. God has so much love to give, humans can’t even grasp it. But if you struggle to feel this outpouring that’s ready to flow, then guess who’s tightened the valve shut? (No judgment here—my valve was cranked down and then some!)

When I finally opened my heart to God (after years of insults and trash talk), guess what He gave me? Love. Only love. In His presence, I was good enough, loveable, accepted and safe. Reading His Word and singing worship songs only cracked open my heart even more, and I literally cried tears of relief as I felt His love pierce deeper.

As you explore and open yourself to receiving God’s love, try this: imagine this love as a liquid or vapor that travels effortlessly into you and out to your children, spouse, friends and family. When I did this, I experienced spiritual and physical healing I could feel in my mind and body.

3. God gives you evidence of His love.

When you open your heart to Christ, the Bible says you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. (John 14:15-17) And the evidence of that love is called fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

By searching for and opening yourself up to God’s love, you will begin to experience these fruits of the Spirit. Even if you don’t feel it at the moment, you possess each and every one of these qualities. Trust me.

During my healing journey, I focused my mind on walking in these fruits instead of allowing my mind to control my feelings. When my brain was trying to be unhappy, unkind, fearful, impatient, harsh and uncontrolled, I gently examined my heart to see which fruit I needed to take hold of instead. (That being said, peace was in short supply in the beginning, so I skipped that fruit knowing it would come over time. If that’s you, choose another fruit for now. It’s okay.)

It wasn’t easy at first; my brain was one grumpy goose. But peering through God’s lens and perspective, I learned to see myself and others differently. God loves the people around me just as much as He loves me. And that allowed me to take the love He gives me and share it with my children and family—which produced even more fruit.

Here’s a pro tip to get you started: as you go about your day, look for evidence of God’s love. It could be in a simple text message, the patient way you talk with your child or a friendly smile at the grocery cashier. Then store these treasures in your heart knowing love is healing your heart, mind, soul and spirit one day at a time.

Pray this key scripture below over yourself - make it personal and insert your name. Then look for God to show Himself to you throughout your days. Slow down and pay attention - you are learning how to practice His presence, and make sure to write it down in your journal.

With the power to break strongholds and destructive patterns of illness, love is the most fundamental step in your healing journey. But sadly, this precious commodity is often undervalued and under sourced. If you need more help understanding or harnessing God’s love during your healing journey, I’d love to come alongside and guide you. Simply reach out and I’ll be in touch.

Key Scripture

Ephesians 3:16-19 (NKJV)

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.