by Fran Craig
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (Romans 7:15,18b)
We all want to be perfect parents, perfect sons or daughters, perfect siblings, perfect friends. We want to do what is right, but something prevents us. We lose our tempers, we get defensive, we shut down, we just can’t do it.
Often one of the things that prevents us from doing what we know we should is an unresolved issue from our past that we just can’t seem to get over. Something happens in the present that brings up all those old feelings from long ago and we find ourselves reacting in the same old unhelpful, even destructive ways we always have. Sometimes these issues are rooted in our early family life.
After the Healing Conference here at Christ the Redeemer last fall with the Isaiah 40 Team, the Healing Prayer Ministry carefully reviewed the comments left by the attendees. We quickly realized many of us have been deeply wounded by disfunctionality in the families in which we grew up. Even in loving families, the woundedness of our parents or guardians can be passed on. And, unfortunately, these wounds affect us and our relationships with others and with God himself even today.
But there is good news. Our God is a God of healing. He cares deeply for us in our woundedness and wants to make us and our families whole.
We are in the middle of a series of three monthly Saturday Healing Services focused on understanding dysfunction in our families of origin, how it can affect us today, and how God can heal unhealthy relational patterns.
In January the service dealt with the past and how looking at our past and identifying, letting go of, and healing from the wounds of the past can help us understand and deal with the present. This coming Saturday, February 18, at 5:00 p.m., we will be looking at the present, how to recognize, understand, and deal with dysfunctional areas in our family life now. God has a plan for us and our families, and seeking his healing for those broken areas, areas that aren’t working, can help us follow his leading more closely and break the cycle of hurt passed down from parents to children.
In March, at the final service in this series, we will look ahead to the future, identifying goals and working toward functioning as an optimally healthy family.
Each brief service includes a homily dealing with the topic of the month and Holy Eucharist to prepare our hearts for healing. Then a time is offered to those who wish it of individual and confidential prayer with two of our trained prayer ministers. Two or three teams of two each will wait at the altar rail and pray one by one with everyone who wishes prayer. No one is turned away. If your need is too deep or too complicated to deal with right then, it may be suggested that you call the church office for an appointment for an extended time of prayer (also free of charge), but the ministers still will pray with you that night.
We don’t need to continue in or pass on our old destructive patterns. Help is available. Come Come and find healing for your wounds of the past and healing for yourselves and your families now. (For more information call or email the church office.)
Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church © 2016
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