Denial inhibits true growth and transformation

It’s so easy to live in denial. It’s a trap that you can fall in effortlessly. 

When you don’t admit that you are hurting, it inhibits you from receiving the healing you so desperately need. 

I am no stranger to living in denial. Are you? I did for years. Years of believing that I didn’t need to heal from my past wounds and hurts. Years of lying to myself and believing that I wasn’t hurting.

However, I was deeply hurt and shattered from past wounds. I didn’t want to suffer and relive the painful memories, because they were too much to bear.

But the desire of my heart for more of Jesus brought me to the truth. I needed to go back to these wounds to be healed in order for deep transformation to take place. 

Are you living in denial from your past wounds or hurts? We all experience pain and hurt. Until we step out of our denial and into reality, however, we can’t be transformed to live in the true freedom Jesus died to give us.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) we read: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

When we come to know Jesus, we can choose through our denial to still be wearing a veil. 

It’s a veil that is covering us from seeing the truth. The pain of the past can haunt you if you don’t deal with it and bring it to the light of Jesus.

Greater transformation into the image of Jesus requires us to journey back to these places for healing. 

These past wounds can run deep and skew our perspective on things today. They can affect our everyday lives by not allowing us to enjoy the beauty—and understand the true intent—that God has created us to experience. 

They can alter our experiences and give us a negative outlook on things. We may not encounter the fullness, goodness and joy in an experience because of the pains of past wounds undealt with. 

Jesus wants us to know his full glory at all times, in all ways. This means we must come before Jesus with these hurts and wounds. He can lead us to receive the healing we need in order to be transformed more in his image.

As I stepped out of my denial and journeyed back to my past hurts and wounds, the pain of the experiences came right back. 

I was stricken by the intensity of the moments, words and events. My body was overcome once again with raw emotions and the complexity of what happened.

The tears flowed with no end in sight, it seemed, but as I confronted my past with Jesus, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, revelations and breakthroughs came. 

I was now able to see why I do certain things, why I can’t break specific behaviors, and why I had been believing some lies by the enemy. 

Truth flooded in as I got down to the root of the pain and hurt. 

I was rejected in relationships, and it’s why I held back parts of me. 

I was lied to, and that’s why I couldn’t fully trust.

Getting down to the root of the pain from my past helped me break free—to live a fuller life in Jesus. And it can for you, also.

It started a transformation that was not possible until I went back to these painful past wounds. There will be layers and layers to go as time goes on, but he has worked miracles in my life as I stepped out of denial; and he continues to do so, as it’s a continuous process.

You too can experience great growth and transformation if you step out of your denial and journey back with him. It is possible as you remove the veil of denial. 

You can be in denial, thinking that you don’t need to deal with these pains and hurts because you know Jesus—but you do. Greater transformation into the image of Jesus requires us to journey back to these places for healing. 

Walk out of denial and into a deeper relationship with Jesus… and bask in the freedom he has given you.

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