Healing for Damaged Emotions

Healing for Damaged Emotions

I like to read. I really do. And I read a lot (sometimes). Presently I am in the 2^nd week of an eight week Summer term where I will complete 10 units of graduate work. Yes, over the next two months will be one of those stages in my life when I read a lot.

Typically my texts for my classes are detailed, technical works that would be of no real interest to anyone outside the field of mental health. Nevertheless, there is the occasional exception to the rule. This past Spring session I was assigned to read David Seamands’ Healing for Damaged Emotions in one of my classes.

 Seamands is a pastor who found that he was having trouble helping two groups of people through the regular ministries in his church. He found that one group of people tried every Christian discipline, but with no results. Yet, their problems were not being solved. He saw the second group of troubled people only moving toward phoniness in attempts to solve their problems. These people repressed their inner feelings, believing that “Christians can’t have such problems.” This group only seemed to bury their problems, only to later reappear in a more damaging fashion.

My life is no exception to the flawed attempts described by Seamands to manage emotional issues. Some churches that I have belonged to have also harbored many of these attitudes, leading to further harm to people whom they could have helped.

So, over the next few weeks I will be taking some time to highlight some of the key points from Seamands’ text that I hope will speak to those who might stumble upon this blog. I appreciate what Healing for Damaged Emotions brings to the conversation and hope that this book can reach hearts and minister to those who are hurting.