Yes, God cares when we hurt ourselves and he loves you. He knows our pain and wants to help us find true hope and joy. God understands that we often hurt ourselves in response to other pain in our lives. This vicious cycle of covering up one painful issue with another can become addictive and always leaves us feeling empty, lonely and afraid in the end.
The reality is that a broken and sinful world can be a hard place to work through self-harm. Unfortunately, many people in our lives do not take the time to notice we are hurting or walk with us to find an answer. This is made worse by satan’s lies that the pain in one place will remove it elsewhere and that we are alone in feeling this way.
However, God sees our pain and is deeply saddened by it. He is full of love and patience but at the same time wants us to change because he knows self-harm is not the answer. He stands ready and waiting to forgive and walk with us through this. Please know that God is not mad at us for doing this. He made us in his image and knows all things about us including exactly who we were created to be before we were even born. We have to start trusting that he not only loves us but wants something better for us. Change may not happen over night but God will walk with us and slowly change us. He will even help us find something good in the mess of our pain.
When we start believing that God’s love is more powerful than the feelings of insecurity and a lack of worth then we will be on the path to changing how we see ourselves. We know the process of letting go of the pain and shame is not easy. However, Jesus has gone through similar rejection, hate, loneliness and abandonment. When he did this, he experienced the same emotions and feelings we have. He did this willingly so we could be forgiven. Jesus died for all sin and offers forgiveness and peace to each of us.
Please stop trying to do it alone. God ultimately works through the people in our lives and his word teaches us to reach out to others for help. Forget the embarrassment and recognize that two working together is better than doing it alone. Our healing process is actually improved when we share our feelings and struggles with others. In addition to getting these secrets out of our system, those we share our struggles with can walk with and pray for us. We know it is scary to confess this to others. Look for someone that is a mature adult that trusts God, can be discrete with what we share, and who will be committed to our healing process.
The reality is you are loved and a child of God…not a cutter or burner. Our true identity is found in Jesus and with that comes real joy and hope. We pray that all those fighting this struggle will start using the powerful tools God gives us to smash the warped worldly philosophies and tear down barriers erected against the truth of God. Funnel every loose thought, emotion, and impulse into the structure of a life shaped by Christ. The pain and hopelessness of self-harm can be removed from our lives. We can find hope and joy again through Jesus. May you find that and experience it in your life.
Whether God cares knows about you hurting yourself or loves you are big questions and for many it will take more than a few paragraphs to trust that message. That is why we would love to talk with you about self harm or any other questions about God. Chat now.
