What Is the 'Healing Era' Trend and How Does It Relate to Our Faith?

1. Stay in Constant Communication with God

I was recently talking to my mom about my communication style with God, and I mentioned that I find myself more often thanking God during the good times and forgetting to go to him when things get tough. She expressed that she often found herself doing the opposite. I wouldn’t be surprised if you felt similarly, but the truth is, we should be going to God in all things good and bad. 1 Chronicles 16:34 reminds us to “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” Meanwhile, Isaiah 41:10 instructs us, “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

God is with us through every high and every low. And having a support system to lean on is imperative when you are in the midst of healing. Stay in constant communication with Him, whether it’s through prayer, journaling, art, or whatever it may be. “Gratitude journaling is extremely helpful,” says Tina Motley, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the owner of Fig Tree Therapy, a Christian-based therapy practice, “I don’t know if you’ve heard of Immanuel journaling, which is just kind of journaling with the Lord. It’s just a conversation with God about who you are and your situation, but we’ve found this to be extremely helpful for some of our clients,” she adds. According to Presence and Practice, a collective of authors who are experts on Immanuel journaling, the practice is a writing exercise that “helps us to explore our life events, especially our interior life including our thoughts, feelings and body sensations with our good God, Immanuel. It is a simple process to help you become aware of God’s compassionate presence in the painful as well as mundane moments of your life.”

Take your fears, your pain, your disappointment, your excitement, your growth, and your healing all to him.

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2. Protect Your Peace by Setting Boundaries

Boundaries are immensely important for making sure our relationships are healthy. The idea of “setting boundaries” may seem relatively new, but we’ve been doing that since relationships began by communicating our needs and wants. In some situations, boundaries can create walls between people. For example, if you have a toxic friend who constantly takes, draining your emotional well, but never reciprocates, you may need to break off that relationship, thus setting a boundary on how you allow others to treat you. But, they don’t have to be so final, and in fact, most aren’t.

Boundaries are well-communicated expectations and restrictions for relationships and can range from physical to psychological. They often help people maintain their independence, ensure mutual respect, and effectively communicate their wants, needs, and feelings to others. An example of a physical boundary is asking people to ask permission to hug you. Not that there needs to be a reason for setting this boundary, but this is one of mine because I was once in an abusive relationship, and for a time, physical touch became associated with being controlled. For many years, I asked my friends and family to ask me before they hugged me or touched me.

Years after that abusive relationship ended, I felt its lingering effects. I remember one time, I tripped and almost fell, and my boyfriend at the time grabbed my wrist to stop me from hitting the ground. I sank to the floor in tears out of fear. Not for anything he had done, but from what I had experienced in the past. You never know why someone is setting a physical boundary, and they aren’t obligated to share the nitty gritty. You aren’t obligated to share why you are setting a boundary. But what we must do is respect others and respectfully enforce our own.

This is an important step in protecting yourself, especially as you heal.

And remember, boundaries can change. I no longer need my friends and family to ask permission to hug me. And when I felt comfortable enough to change that boundary, I clearly and openly communicated that with my loved ones.

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3. Lean On Your Community for Support

Speaking of loved ones, sometimes we need to heal by ourselves, but often we need to heal surrounded by people who genuinely love and care for us. Lean on your community. Romans 12:10 tells us to “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Lean on your friends, family, church community, neighbors, whoever you have in your life. Ask them for help. There is no shame in needing them. In fact, God created us as communal beings. When He created Adam, He saw that he needed a companion, so He created Eve. God gave us spirits of community and urges us to be there for one another.

Good friends and family will show up. So lean on them. Ask them to support you as God helps you put your pieces back together. The likelihood is, they’ll need your help at some point, too. So ask, and be willing to offer when it’s their turn.

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4. Prioritize Things That Bring You Joy

When you get on an airplane, the flight attendant demonstrates the safety protocols. They instruct you to read the plane information pamphlet, show you how to fasten your seat belt, and explain that the seat can also be used as a floatation device. And then they get to the part about the oxygen masks. During this segment, they repeatedly emphasize one thing: Put your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else. They say this because how could you possibly help anyone else if you’re unconscious or disoriented from the lack of air? The same is generally true when it comes to healing. How can you possibly help someone else heal when you don’t even let yourself feel the sadness, grief, fear, or whatever it is that you feel so that you can heal?

I want you to hear me when I say this. It is not selfish to take care of yourself. In fact, one of the most important things a parent can do is show their children how important it is to take care of themselves. Teach them healthy grieving and processing by example. Now that doesn’t mean to check out, but what it does mean is to take time to prioritize things that bring you joy. This is also a great opportunity to refer back to point number three. Lean on your community for help.

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5. Take Quiet Moments

One of the most important things I’ve done during my healing journeys is take quiet moments. My intention is normally to take at least 30 minutes a day, but even if you can’t commit to that, try to carve out space for quiet time at least once a week. This time can simply be for you to do something you love. Start a new knitting project, bake some chocolate chip cookies, or read a couple of chapters of that book that’s been sitting untouched on your nightstand. Or, if you want to take this time to really get in touch with your inner self, try some mindfulness practices. “As Christians, we have to really look into that word, mindfulness, and make sure as we are meditating, we are staying focused on the Lord and are full of the Holy Spirit,” says Motley, who’s been an LCSW for nearly 20 years. She encourages those who are practicing meditation to focus on scripture as well as the things we are grateful for.

We can see that it is important to spend time in silence from Jesus’ example in Mark 1:35, where He goes off on His own to pray to the lord in solitude. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed,” the verse says. After this time of solitude, Jesus went off with his disciples to share the word, seemingly full of peace, despite the sacrifice he was soon to make.

So whether you are praying in the quiet, or taking a moment to simply exist as you are, there is so much value in a quiet moment.

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