ACL Healing is a 4 part series based off insights from “The Wounded Heart” by Dr. Dan Allender.

How can we move past the wounds in our life that steal our joy and desire to love and be loved? There are three painful, difficult, and yet totally worthwhile steps – a lifelong process really – that open the door to healing our wounds. (If you’re starting here, before you go any further, please read the first part of this series and answer the critical question.)

Hopefully, you read part one, considered the Critical Question, and said YES! Gently and carefully, you may have begun the process of acknowledgement and then confession. As we acknowledge the core wounds in our heart, we can release through confession the way our wounds have negatively impacted our way of relating to God, others, and even ourselves.

The next step in the process is to begin to live out the healing that we are experiencing. You see, we were created to be boldly loved and to boldly love others. God’s character and thus the entire universe is based on that reality. The world we live in, sin soaked selfishness, is completely unnatural.

Boldly Love

Most of us are familiar with all kinds of “loving” that hurts us and others. Our loving is often selfish and/or foolish, and typically dishonouring to God. It takes work to boldly love. What does it look like?

I want to suggest it’s being in life giving relationships, with God and with others. These are sacrificial, transformational,  accountable, unconditional. These are the relationships that make you be honest and real while at the same time knowing that you have complete love and acceptance. Do you desire relationships like this?

As beings created to be loved and to love in return, our healing journey isn’t to simply stop doing some behaviour or get over our past or even be better at handling stress. The ultimate goal of the healing we seek is to boldly love.

I hope you are able to begin the journey!