Turmoil - A state of great commotion, confusion, or disturbance.

How many of us (or those around us) resume what would appear to be our "normal" lives, but inside are suffering from considerable turmoil.

How often do we put on a smile, a happy face, when inside we feel nothing but pain and heartache? When we think thoughts that tear ourselves down?

If only...

I can't...

I'll never be...

My psychology professor said it best when he said that all throughout his practice, he's noticed one key element in getting through depression and hard times is this four-letter word:

H-O-P-E

Ever since we were born we have been trying to find ourselves. Who we are. Our likes and dislikes. Who we should and shouldn't have as friends. Trying so hard just to feel whole. In-touch with ourselves. Connected.

For those who don't know who Pastor Rob Bell is, he is an amazing author and a pastor in Grandville, Michigan. He has some sermon-like videos he posts online, too. He wrote a book, that our College Group is reading, called Sex God: Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality.

In this book, he says:

"We were born into a world, into a condition, of disconnection. Things were created to be a certain way, and they're not that way, and we feel it in every fiber of our being.

Is this why the first thing newborns do is cry?

We're severed and cut off and disconnected in a thousand ways, and we know it, we feel it, we're aware of it every day. It's an ache in our bones that won't go away.

And so from an early age we have this awareness of the state of disconnection we were born into, and we have a longing to reconnect."

And so in this state, this feeling of disconnection, we feel a hole. A missing piece. Emptiness. And we try to fill it.

Alcohol.

Drugs.

Sex.

Which then lead to:

Anger

Resentment.

Hatred.

Depression.

More pain.

It seems like a temporary fix for our ailments at first, but the effects last longer than that. We can't easily associate our depression with the drugs we use to make us feel so good. I mean, how can something as good as some natural drug make us feel depressed? Right? Yeah, I think it's nonsense too.

We're trying so hard to fix ourselves, so when we fail... we end up more hurt.

When you've been through a traumatic experience, you feel a sense of hopelessness. You isolate yourself because "no one understands". Your level of optimism begins to crumble.

We all want a reason for what happens to us. We want to know why so that we can once again have a sense of order and predictability about life.

Psalm 88:8 says, "I'm caught in a maze and can't find my way out, blinded by tears of pain and frustration."

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," Declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity."

Captivity - The state or period of being held, imprisoned, enslaved, or confined.

Instead of owning our problems and not letting them control us, we let them own us and control how they effect us. We are being imprisoned by our pain and God wants to set us free.

Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

Although it feels like no one understands how we feel, or what we're dealing with, God loves us all and He knows our hearts. He knows our pains.

Psalm 34:17 says, 'Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you."

Psalm 55:17 says, "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice."

Psalm 72:12 says, "For He will rescue the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper."

Psalm 84:2 says, "I long and yearn for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God."

Psalm 88:1 says, "O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you."

Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Whether we are recovering physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually - God wants to heal us. God wants us to let Him heal us.

Let go of the anguish.

Let go of the anger.

Let go of the physical pains.

Let go of the mental blocks keeping us from praising him.

Let go of the hopelessness.

Let God's unfailing love speak life and healing into those broken parts of us that need His touch so desperately.

References:

Sex God: Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality by Rob Bell

Helping Those Who Hurt: How to be there for your friendsin need by H. Norman Wright

Passages taken from NIV, HCSB, KJV, NKJV and MSG