"I am the Lord Who heals you"                Exodus 15:26

   "He took our sicknesses

       and removed our diseases"                 Matthew 8:17

   "Since He Himself has gone through suffering

     and difficult testings,

       having lived in a physcial body like ours,

      He is able to help us in our sufferings."

                                                                                            Hebrews 2:16

   "We have on our behalf a Great High Holy Man

      Who has ascended into the heavens.

     He is Jesus, the Son of God;

    And though He is a Great, High Holy Man,

        Yet He feels our pains

            and understands our weaknesses.

    Why?  Because He has faced all the same troubles

       and temptations we've had to face in this life,

          with one exception:

       He never reacted sinfully to His testings.

    So, let us come without any fear of rejection,

      to our God Who is full of mercy and grace,

    And find the help we so desperately desire

        in our times of struggle and need."        Hebrews 4:14

  "He was wounded for our wrongs,

     He was beaten for our disobediences;

    The punishment to bring us to peace with God

       was put upon Him instead;

     And so now, by His stripes, we are healed."

                                                                                            Isaiah 53:4-5

There is, in the healing of the wounds of past abuse, an element of actual healing (removal of pain from hurtful memories) that only Jesus can do.  While Creator might work through a counselor, a psychologist, or a mental-health therapist as His agent of His healing grace, there is still an aspect of the healing process that no human being, despite all his training, can do.  It's a "God-thing"; just as a surgeon doesn't actually heal the body but uses his knowledge of the inherent healing characteristic of the physical body, coupled with his surgical skills, to facilitate healing, so the counselor/therapist facilitates the healing virtue/grace of Christ to heal our wounded spirit and mind.  This is an important understanding.

Exactly how does Christ, through His Spirit within, do this?  We don't know, anymore than we really know how He heals the body when He so chooses.  After all, He is the Creator of all matter and spiritual life, including us; it shouldn't be too surprising that He Who created all, sustains all - from every galaxy and planet to the orbiting electrons of an atom - and He has the capability of altering and restoring that which has been damaged, even in our minds and spirits.

Add to this His proven empathy: that the Creator went to the extent to indwell a human body like ours, the created, making Himself, in Jesus, vulnerable to all the ill aspects of this physical life, so that we would realize that He really does understand and identify with our sufferings and pain - and so that, in turn, we would willingly, freely come to Him Who can restore us to that greater quality of life He intends for us.  Now put that together, His compassionate empathy with His ability to heal the human mind and "heart" of painful memories and damaged emotions, and you have a win-win situation!  Nothing to lose - everything to gain!

This isn't just theoretical - almost everyone in our Eagle Wings 'fellowship' has experienced this 'healing' of painful memories firsthand, through the means of a counselor who is in Christ.  This is the basis of our "healing from abuse" ministry.  We witness Christ ministering to the wounded spirit and mind, utilizing all the means of grace: counseling, prayer and meditation, mutual-encouragement-sharing of a support group, specific relative Scriptures, mentoring and accountability, and the experiential impartation of the healing virtue of the Spirit of Christ.  So we follow a counseling process in the healing of the effects of past abuse; yet, it does not exclude or conflict with that element of Christ's inexplicable, yet real healing experience.