God Is Always Ready to Help

Psalms 91:1(NLT)
“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”

For many women, getting out of an abusive relationship is not so easy. Every woman that has overcome emotional, physical, or verbal abuse has a different story to tell, and you’d be surprised to hear that there are large numbers of women that have suffered in silence since childhood. Their lifelong trauma started with childhood, watching their mothers or close relatives endure abuse. Without prayers and an invitation to the Holy Spirit for the healing work of our hearts, minds, and souls, many of us repeat the patterns we’ve learned from childhood. We sometimes end up in relationships that cause us to repeat the cycle of abuse that we witnessed in our past.

Growing up in a household where domestic violence and abuse was common can register somewhere in our minds as a normal occurrence, even though it’s far from it. In the Word of God, there are examples of individuals who developed certain insecurities as a result of family dynamics that existed in their childhoods. These kinds of things affect us in ways that we can’t completely understand. This unresolved pain sits within and can steer our thoughts, actions, and attitudes without us being conscious of it. Pain of any kind is not a natural state. Because some of us have experienced deeply emotional pain from abuse at some point in our lives, resentment and bitterness about it can fester. We lean towards pessimism and doubt rather than being transformed by faith in God’s love, promises, and power.

God tells us in 2Corinthians 3:17(NLT), “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” When emotional pain dominates our internal reality, at some point, it’s going to show up externally, but this is not what God wants for His children. He knows our pain and wants us to turn to Him for help. God is always ready to help, and He offers us freedom from pain, but we must recognize that the work of the Spirit of going to change us. To live free, our minds, hearts, and souls must be surrendered to our Heavenly Father, so that He can transform us into the people He created us to be.

Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.” God wants us to have a good life, a more than abundant life. He not holding us back. Often there are things at work within that hinder our faith and keep us from the life God wants us to have. He tells us in His Word that the way to handle this is to renew our minds to what He says. Romans 12:2(NKJV) tells us, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” To renew our minds is to change the way we think so that our thoughts line up with God’s Word.

When we desire our situations to change, it begins with us. Even the smallest step we take towards this is rewarded, because it means we are making a step towards having greater faith in God. He instructs us on how to help ourselves in a way that partners with His efforts to deliver and heal us. This requires that our hearts and minds are moving in the same direction that He is, and God is always moving in the direction of the truth of His Word. He’s rooting for us to do the same.

God is always completely and totally willing to come to our aid when we seek Him earnestly. He delights in helping us overcome the adversities we endure in life. Everyone has struggles and things they are trying to get over, and we must come to the realization that we can’t do it alone, and we were never meant to. We move out of our own way and do ourselves the greatest good when we have faith in God, and we trust that by placing our faith in Him, all things are possible, as Jesus Christ said in Mark 9:23. Give yourself as much time and space to heal and be better as you did to develop and learn in any other aspect of your life. You can rest assured that as you read and study God’s Word and trust in His instruction and guidance for your life, you are headed to becoming stronger, wiser, and better than you ever imagined. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Overcoming Domestic Violence

Overcoming domestic violence and abuse through Jesus Christ!