God never intended for us to live a repressed life. Jesus is our model on how to cope with life's challenges. He never ignored issues, but faced them and overcame. So why do we avoid coping with issues in life? Well, on one hand, it's a normal to pull away from that which causes us pain. If I were to ask you to hold your hand to a hot flame till it burned, you wouldn't do it. Why? Because you're wired to avoid pain.
But not all pain is bad. For instance, if you had a flesh wound you'd need to keep it clean and protected in order for it to heal. Cleaning the wound causes pain, yet, the results of that pain are positive.
The same holds true for our emotional wounds. God wired our mind for balance - a state called homeostasis. Regardless if our wounds are physical or emotional in nature, the healing process is still very much the same. We need to flush it out, then keep it clean and allow time for healing. While the pain associated in the healing process might be excruciating, it is important for us to endure for the sake of our health.
Repressing (i.e. avoiding) the pain involved with our emotional wounds is like placing a bandage over a flesh wound that has not been cleansed. In such cases, our actions will breed infection and healing will be stymied. It is possible that we will become sickened by the infection.
God has good plans for us. In order to live-out those plans, we need to be healthy and functional. While we might have been wounded emotionally, we nonetheless need to face reality and begin the process of cleansing so that we can experience healing and develop wholeness.
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