When Healing Hurts: The Cost of True Freedom (Shattering Mountains Series)

"The pain of change must outweigh the pain of same." - Pastor Jimmy Pruitt

This quote resurfaces in my heart whenever I enter seasons of stretching and pruning (or as I like to call it, "groaning"...). We've all heard phrases like "freedom is never free" or "there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Scripture puts it plainly: "count the cost." Meaningful transformation demands we surrender something precious, something that hurts to release. I've spent years perfecting the art of slapping happy, smiling bandages over my deepest wounds and trauma, believing if I covered them well enough, no one would notice the blood seeping through.

But here's the truth I've learned: we may hide our wounds temporarily—a day, a week, maybe even years like I did—but we're only hiding them from ourselves. And confronting them means reopening those wounds that have been slowly draining our life away.

My husband and I share an inside joke about our beautiful dog. This giant floof sincerely believes he's both tiny AND the world's stealthiest hide-and-seek champion. Bless his heart! Despite his magnificent presence (and occasional ability to nearly knock me over), he remains blissfully unaware that his "hiding" fools absolutely no one.

We humans aren't much different. We think we're concealing our festering wounds when really, we're leaving trails of evidence everywhere because these wounds were never properly closed—just hastily covered.

For years, I nursed a wound that kept reopening. Each time I convinced myself it had healed, something would come along and rip off the bandage, taking skin, hair, and anything else that had attached itself to the adhesive.

With some help and Grammarly AI corrections, 10 transformative questions were written. They're challenging. They're uncomfortable. And if you allow them to, they will completely wreck you—in the most necessary way—as you sit with Him and begin excavating the infection.

Because that's exactly what it is: an infestation of lies buried so deeply in our hearts that we can't see them until we bleed ourselves on the altar of the One who loves and sees us most clearly. It's only there, completely exposed before Him, that true healing begins.

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I asked Him long ago to mold me into the person I needed during my darkest, most silent nights. I realize now that I needed someone who had walked through these exact flames—someone willing to sit in silence while He lanced the pockets of infection, even to the point of bursting. I needed someone to call out the gold when all I could see or hear were the lies of the enemy.

Want to join me on this healing journey? Subscribe below to receive my free infographic with the 10 Questions That Transform. These questions came as I've been walking through these flames myself—learning to sit in the silence while He works on those painful places. I'm still discovering how to see the gold when the enemy's lies feel overwhelming. These questions have become my weapons in healing, and I'd be honored to share them with you as we walk this path together, supporting each other in uncovering freedom in His presence.

Yes, I want the infographic!