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Tell God About It
By Rick Warren

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16a NIV)

We all respond to hidden wounds in different ways. Some people act out. Other people get angry all the time. Others self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. Still, others try to escape the pain by moving from relationship to relationship.

Yet the worst possible response to your life's hidden wounds is to clam up. It’s like taking a soda bottle and shaking it up. One day, you’ll just pop!

You’ll never get over your hidden wounds until you face your feelings straight on by talking to God about them.

Bottling up your hidden wounds will wear you out. The Bible says this in Psalm 32:3: “When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long” (NCV). If you use up all of your emotional energy on the past, you’ll have little left for today. You then spend so much of your time on your regret and resentment — thinking about how you’ll get even with the person who has hurt you — that you’re out of energy for what matters in the here and now.

God has an answer for your pain. It starts with confession. You’ve got to admit your pain. Everything else is, in one way or another, a fruitless attempt to forget what ails you. You need to admit your pain to:

•God

•Yourself

•One other person you trust.

Many people want to move past their pain by admitting it to God and themselves and skipping the third part of the equation. Good luck! It’ll never work. Admitting your pain to others is absolutely essential. You won’t get well on your own. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16a NIV).

You don’t need to confess to a pastor, a priest, or a therapist to obey James 5:16 (though you can). You need a friend.

Open up about your hidden pain to someone. Tell him or her what hurts. As you do that and confess to God and yourselves, you just might find that long-lost energy you’ve been dreaming about.

Because revealing is the beginning of healing.

Talk It Over

What secret from your past are you having trouble letting go?

Why is being open with God about a painful memory so scary? Why is it so difficult to be open with ourselves about a painful memory? Why is it so hard to be open about a painful memory with others?

Who can you open up with about pain in your past?