Wild LifeSample

Your Wounds Have Words

In his New York Times best-selling book, Wild at Heart, John Eldredge says, “A wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal.” Straight to our faces, sitting at the river’s edge, John told us his story. As a boy, he and his dad were close. They’d fish together, throw a ball, and go camping. It was any boy’s dream. Then John’s dad checked out to alcohol. Just like that, at age 12, John became the strongest man in his world. Maybe you can relate.

Later, John would invest his heart in a girlfriend, but she didn’t stick around either. He’d spend summers with his grandfather who eventually passed way. John’s wound was deepening like the canyon we sat in, nearly audible over the sound of the river. It sounded like this: “Everyone leaves. You’re on your own.” When John decided to write his first book, he wrote it with one of his best friends who later died in a climbing accident at their first men’s event. The wound’s message became louder. 

As we listened to John, he had a sense of peace about it all. He shared his wounds from a place of healing. Yet, something about his healing highlighted our pain. You could hear the messages of our wounds as we started sharing. I don’t need anyone. I’m not enough. I’m a quitter. I’ll do better than him. What message does your wound send?

Ryan and John rode and talked together on the drive to the river. They ended up having one of those life-altering conversations. After you listen in on a few minutes of it and read today’s Scripture, write your answers to these questions. What is my greatest wound? What message has it sent me? What message is God sending me?

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