By Dr. Henry Cloud, a co-author of “Boundaries” book we use.
“In college, I had fallen into a deep depression, and had turned to God for help. I waited for him to “zap me” with healing, but what he did instead was get me connected to a small group of people who got under my skin, got me to open up and be vulnerable, reveal my hurts and needs, and they connected with me where I was. As I had invested in them, creating deeper connections, I began to get better. I had not known it at the time, but this was the spiritual healing that God was giving me, all while I was waiting on a supernatural “zapping.” Instead of zapping me, he was restoring his image in me, the ability to bond with others and be filled as a result.
Over time I’ve learned that there is no such thing to me as an “emotional problem,” vs. a “spiritual problem.” We are spiritual beings, and our salvation has everything to do with our emotional and spiritual well-being. As we grow in him, and as his image is strengthened in us, we get well, healed, as we “are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
My prayer for you is that you come to know that your relationship with God is more than just “fire insurance,” or only having a connection with Him. While those would be enough in and of themselves, he has offered us much more, in this “so great a salvation.” (Heb. 2:3) In salvation he has offered us the real meaning of the word itself: healing”
This is true in the lives of children of God…. He places us in “families”, first biologically, then spiritually…. like leaves attached to a branch upon the Tree of Life. The leaves are renewed again and again, according to the trees’ seasons and fruit. But a limb that produces no leaves to support additional growth or no fruit to propagate the tree beyond its own rooted place or serve its purpose in God’s economy is just dead wood, only good for firewood after it is pruned and piled up.