What does it mean to be a Wounded Healer?
You may be familiar with the idea that following the teachings of Christ requires one to serve as a wounded healer for other people. But to what extent do you really grasp the significance of what it says? What does it mean to be a wounded healer? It has nothing to do with being a helpful person who is dysfunctional or in need! Nor is it about therapists and carers flipping roles in order to persuade those they are helping to take care of themselves.
To put it another way, wounded healers are those who share their own pain in order to provide others with comfort and encouragement. They participate in the anguish that Christ endured, and they also share the consolation that Christ brought with them when they minister to others (2 Corinthians 1:4). They transform into a kind, courageous, and caring presence for the individuals in their immediate environment. They are the Christ’s Ambassadors, and they bring the divine fellowship of God to people who have severed their connection with God (2 Corinthians 5:20).
To begin the process of becoming a wounded healer, we must first cultivate a greater self-awareness of our own particular challenges and ask for, and accept, the empathy, kind-hearted understanding, and compassionate support that we need from God and from other people. Because we are overflowing with love, we are able to share that love with others (1 John 4:19) and let them know that they are not alone. By experiencing our own feelings of melancholy, rage, fear, and inadequacy, we are better able to genuinely empathize with the feelings of other people, allowing them to more effectively communicate their experiences and get support.
We are similar to the Psalmist in the Bible because we are wounded healers following the path of Christ. We don’t deny or reject our emotional challenges. Instead, we acknowledge our own anguish and ask for the compassion and direction that we need. Once we have these things, we are able to extend the grace that we have been given to others who are also in need.
