Made New: Rewriting the Story of Rejection Through God's Truthნიმუში

Day 6: Choosing to Heal

I didn’t wake up one day magically healed. Healing didn’t come with a spotlight or a dramatic moment; it came through a quiet, complex, and intentional decision to stop carrying the weight of rejection and start choosing healing, even when it hurt.

The truth is, healing is a choice. And here’s another truth: you can’t heal what you continue to hide. Healing demands intentional action. Ignoring your pain doesn’t make it disappear; it only allows it to shape your life silently, behind the scenes. When we choose not to confront what’s broken, we’re also choosing to carry what God is ready and willing to heal.

For me, the turning point came in the silence, after another long day of showing up for everyone else while secretly wondering if I was ever truly seen. On the outside, I was respected, trusted, and succeeding. But inside, I was still wrestling with the boy who didn’t feel chosen, still trying to prove I belonged. I realized healing wouldn’t come through achievement or perfection; it would come through permission. So I gave myself permission to feel, to confront, and most of all, to grow through the pain.

Healing began the moment I surrendered my life to God. When I reflect on my journey, I often think of the man by the pool in John 5, who had been waiting thirty-eight years for healing. Jesus looks at him and asks, “Do you want to get well?” I can hear the urgency in His voice. I had to ask myself the same question, and be honest about the answer. I realized that I either wanted to get well or I didn’t. And whichever path I chose, my actions would directly affect the people I love and the generations that follow me. I knew I would repeat what I refused to repair. That’s when I decided: I wanted to get well. I chose to walk in the freedom Jesus died to give me.

That decision led me to take the next step: seeking Godly counsel from a trusted elder in my church and committing to weekly therapy sessions. It was through those conversations and moments of deep introspection that I began to uncover just how deep my wounds ran. Some were fresh, still bleeding. Others traced back more than 20 years. Healing taught me how to forgive. It taught me how to love in a way that reflects God’s heart. It also opened my eyes to see people not just for who they are, but for who God created them to be.

In therapy, I also learned how much of my pain was inherited, passed down from people who were carrying unhealed wounds of their own. As a father, I knew I couldn’t let that pain continue any further. I chose to heal not just for myself but for my son and every generation that will grow from the seeds I plant. I’m choosing to stand in the gap so my bloodline doesn’t have to recover from what once broke me.

Healing isn’t always pretty. It often calls us to have hard conversations with the people we love and to set boundaries that protect us mentally, physically, and spiritually from anything that isn’t aligned with God’s will. Therapy helped me identify and confront the lies I once believed, lies that quietly shaped how I saw myself and the world.

So if you’re walking this road too, I’ll leave you with this:

Think of healing not just as recovery, but as power and strength. It is not the kind of strength that says you have to do it all alone, but the kind that recognizes where you fall short and trusts that God will meet you there and do the rest.

Reflection Questions:

• What parts of your story have you been avoiding, and how might choosing to confront them be the first step toward healing?
• Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?” How would you answer that question today, and what intentional steps can you take to reflect that desire to be made whole?

Prayer:

Father God, thank you for today's journey. I ask you to meet me as I am. I ask you to reveal yourself in a new way to me. I desire to know you deeper. Today, I am leaning on you for your understanding. I ask you to heal me according to your image. Please make me aware of the things in my life that you disapprove of and that I have been holding on to. I surrender these areas of my life to you and trust you with them. Thank you for loving me perfectly, even when the people around me didn't. Here I am, Lord, use me. In your name I pray, Amen..