I performed my motherly duties - cleaned the cuts, wiped away tears, soothed with ice cream and sprinkles - and carried on with the day's tasks. Before long he was giggling and laughing; that's when I noticed it. The second tooth along the bottom of his sweet little jaw-line was no longer cute and square-shaped, but had been broken, making it sharp and fang-like! As I made closer inspection of the injury I realised - due to the tiny red dot I could see in the centre - that the break had indeed exposed the tooth's nerve.
Thankfully for my little shark-boy it doesn't seem to be causing him any pain and can be treated with a simple dab of fluoride toothpaste; often this is not the case. Leaving raw nerves exposed can cause sudden flares of intense pain. We then start to avoid using the injured body part out of fear, becoming less able to function in the process. To become free of this cycle we need to treat the cause - the raw nerve.
And isn't this just so much like life? We decide to give something a try and it doesn't come off; buying a house, a career change, just getting through each day is a challenge for many of us. Quite often we end up like my boy, squashed under a mountain of hurt, rejection, failure and many other things; sometimes the crash is minor and we get up and brush ourselves off, but at other times it damages us and exposes a nerve or two. We begin to avoid the things that make us hurt; taking risks, daring to try again, anything that would bring on the pain.
I am convinced that God has more for us than a life lived cowering behind the raw nerves of our souls. And I believe that he will use us - unashamed Christians who write from the perspective that God loves each individual in this world - to share the very best balm of soul-healing to all who read our words.
We read in Proverbs 16:24,
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (NIV)
What an absolute blessing it is to be appointed a writer for God! And in a world that is full of lies, deception and false hope, his Word of truth is needed all the more.
Be encouraged today as you write; trust that God will use the talents he has chosen to give to you to bring his supernatural healing to someone . . . somewhere . . . somehow.
Blessings,
Helen
