God’s Role in Eating Disorder Recovery: His Healing Touch

God offers His healing touch for the deep wounds that those in eating disorder recovery often possess. So know that there is hope for the relief of your inner pain. You may have experienced abuse, the loss of people or other things important to you, the breakdown of relationships, disappointments or mistreatment from those you love, or other hurts. Regardless of what has happened to you, though, God is even bigger than those hurts, and He can heal you of them.

While healing can sometimes come instantaneously, it is often a process that occurs over time. So if it has not happened for you yet, don’t despair. There is always hope. But please try to keep a few things in mind.

As you are probably aware, unexpressed emotions serve to fuel an eating disorder. As difficult as it may seem to do, let out the hurt in order to release the pain. Maybe you will do this through talking to someone you trust, through writing in a journal, through prayer or in some other way. Whichever avenue you choose, remember that God feels the pain with you, and that you can leave those released emotions with Him. Therefore, you can trust Him with anything you feel. Let Him be your safe place just as He was for David in Psalm 32:7, You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

You might find that you can learn and grow even from the painful circumstances you’ve endured. Your healing may be about more than relief of inner pain as the healing process may also strengthen you. So if healing is not coming, you can ask God to reveal to you what you might be able to learn from what you have been through. He may speak to you directly or through someone else, but try to be open to what He has to say. They may or may not seem like healing words at first, but please listen.

You may have carried pain with you for a very long time, but that doesn’t mean that your heart cannot heal. The hurt may seem so deep that nothing could lodge it from your heart, but please know that God’s love and healing touch can reach even deeper. It is not out of His reach. Try to take comfort in what David had to say about the Lord in Psalm 34:19, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. If God can heal even those who are “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit”, then He can heal you, too.

Why not allow God to have a greater role in your recovery? He knows you, understands you and loves you more than you could imagine. You can trust Him with anything you feel, no matter how painful it is. May you one day declare like David did in Psalm 30:2, God, I called out to you for help and you healed me.