Healing Spiritual Wounds by Carol Howard Merritt

Author:Carol Howard Merritt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-12-28T05:00:00+00:00

Claiming God’s Love Exercise

You can understand yourself in relation to God. Sit down with two blank pieces of paper. On each line of page 1, write those words that rumbled from the heavens when Jesus was baptized, but place yourself in the sentence:

“I, (your full name), am God’s (son/daughter/child), the beloved. God is well pleased with me.”9

Repeat the sentence until you fill the page. As you write, you might hear yourself arguing with the statement. “Who do you think you are?” something inside of you may chide. “You’re gay! How could God love you?” Or “That’s ridiculous. You don’t deserve God’s love. You’re a slut!” Or, “If God really loved you, then that terrible thing would have never happened to you!”

When you hear those protests, write them down on the second sheet of paper. If you hear the same disagreeable statement ringing in your ears more than once, then write it down more than once. Then turn to page 1 again and keep writing how you are a beloved child of God, until you fill the first page.

Look at the arguments. Where did the protests originate? Can you identify when and where you first heard them? Has someone been blocking you from God’s love? Take some time to journal or talk with a friend about what statements are keeping you from fully receiving God’s love.

As you think about the experience, can you have compassion for the person who said these things to you? Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for that person to live with such a judgmental God? Can you forgive the person who said it?

Can you forgive yourself for that thing that is keeping you from God’s love?10 Read Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now, look at your page of false statements and think about what you would like to do with them. Can you create a ritual around getting rid of them? You can rip them up or light them on fire. You can sing, light candles, burn incense, or practice smudging as you get rid of them. Or, if you talked to a friend about the process, then you can invite him or her to witness the disposal.

Each time you hear water running, remind yourself, “I am God’s child. The Beloved. God is well pleased with me.” If you’re standing in front of a mirror, getting ready to brush your teeth, look at yourself as you say it. This will remind you of your baptism (if you’ve been baptized), and it will remind you that God’s love is unconditional.

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