Put Ice On It

Opening night of the NFL season last year our family was invited to a kick-off party. The Titans opened up against the Steelers. My middle son Elijah was playing flag football and had practice that night and Trisha had a meeting at the church. So my plan was to go to Elijah’s practice…then go to the party and try to be there by kick-off.

The last play of practice Elijah fell awkwardly on his arm. He started holding his wrist and crying a little. I walk out on to the field and ask him if he is okay? He says no, he thinks he broke his arm. That is impossible because we have a party to go to and we are going to miss kick-off.

So we jump in the car and head to the party. On the way to the party, my oldest son Micah informs me that Elijah’s arm doesn’t look very good. It is pretty swollen. My response was “We’ll just put some ice on it.” We get to the party and some people start looking at Elijah’s arm…they put ice on it and suggest that I think about taking him to the hospital.

My wife arrives at half time. Elijah’s arm is pretty swollen at this point.  Trisha walks in and it was like the entire party stopped…everyone gets quiet as she walks toward Elijah. She looks at his arm and says, “Oh..we’re going to the hospital!”

His arm was broken.

This isn’t a story about how bad of a father I am, although that would be true also.

If we are honest, this is our life. Many of us are broken, we are fractured, and we have been wounded and hurt. Over the course of time we have become accustomed to ignoring our pain; putting some ice on our brokenness in hopes of numbing the pain. We have found it easier to pretend like we are whole and complete and just deal with the pain and brokenness internally.

God’s desire for us is that we would bring our brokenness to Him. He longs to heal our fractured souls and broken hearts.

But here is the truth today: God will not heal you of brokenness you will not acknowledge.

Just like God will not force himself into your salvation, He will not force himself into your restoration.

I spent so many years putting ice on my broken arm pretending it wasn’t broken. I compartmentalized my life in order to medicate and avoid the fractured parts of my heart. I have learned this principle the hard way:

God only heals the parts of our heart we are willing to bring to him.

Is there a part of your heart that is broken and you are just putting ice on it?