Learning How to Heal
I'd like to share with you about my experience with a ministry of Healing and Recovery at Bethel - Betrayal & Beyond. I've been married for 12 years, sometime after celebrating our second anniversary my husband confessed he'd been struggling with pornography. I felt shocked and ashamed, wasn't I enough? Since he was sorry and I wanted to forgive him and put it behind us, and neither of us knew what else to do, we prayed, put up some computer firewalls and moved on. Over the next 8 years his confessions would stab holes in my chest and shake my reality. We learned to talk to other people about it and he went to a counselor for a while. But I still didn’t know how to connect in a way that helped me process and heal and he didn’t know how to renew his mind and break his addictive cycle. A friend shared with me about the Betrayal & Beyond group. At the time it had been over a year since a confession and I was pretty confident I didn't need help. Then on the eve of our ten year anniversary another confession dropped like a bomb and left me ripped apart. Still I was scared to join a group with thoughts like, what if I learn that in a trite way that I need to draw near to God, forgive and move on?, and basically, what if it doesn't help me? Instead, God helped me look at my reality and keep pushing forward for more information. I learned that God was interested in my healing, not just my husbands’, and that gave me the courage to register for the group. The class, the workbook, the ladies who went through it with me– all of it was so much better than I expected.
If you’re thinking about reaching out for help I want to leave you with one thought. Before I joined this group I believed I didn't need it and believed the lie, that I’ve heard other women echo, that I wouldn't belong. Can I encourage you that if God is stirring your spirit to learn more you need to follow him. This is an excellent curriculum, worth dedicating the time to put yourself in the hands of God and let him restore you with his truth. As Proverbs 3:5-6 in the Message Bible says:
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
For more information on our Betrayal & Beyond group or to talk to someone, contact Bethel's Healing and Recovery Coordinator Melissa Flores care@bethel.ch or sign up here.
