There is a unique way to care for every human heart.

Much like the medical community from which I came, I believe in treating the whole person.

Symptoms are just that- symptoms.

Whether addiction has gotten hold of a heart or one has a life of self-hatred. A heart in fear or one riddled in insecurity. A heart seeping of anger or a heart operating in dysfunction. A heart that is distant or one that is unusually silent.

Each is a symptom of an underlying situation. Usually, one of pain.

It can take a while to remove all the protective masks, elusive words, and even rigid and religious cover-ups.

Time, patience, and a heart of understanding, like Christ, are absolutely necessary. If I lack understanding of a heart and the path that led them to where they are, I could cause further pain and halt the healing Jesus is after.

There really is a need for tender, love, and care.

I was walking yesterday and it began to rain. I desperately wanted to stay outside with the Lord. Since it was a gentle rain, I decided to just get wet.

I am so glad I did.

The field near me was full of wildflowers and grass of all kinds. I noticed some of each handled the rain a little differently.

Some flowers and their petals sagged and bent over quickly while others seemed to stand up straight and stretch out the petals to take in all the rain with mighty strength. Some flowers lost petals while others lost none at all.

As God is tending His little flowers in His own garden, we are each the same, but different.

Some of us weather the rains quite easily while others become heavily laden rather quickly.

Same rain-different response.

Every heart has walked a unique path. Some have had complex trauma and triggers send them reeling quickly into past pains. Others, perhaps, had fewer storms in life and better support systems in place that undergirded them in advance for upcoming storms.

It’s why I have to be willing to understand every situation, uniquely. I can not merely treat one person’s symptom the same way I would treat another person presenting with the same symptom. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn’t.

Two very different hearts with very different, and unique, life pains.

Sometimes it takes hours, months, and even years. Other times, the Lord may give me a sudden word of knowledge that cuts right to the point of the matter.

Either way, I must be careful to hear so that I do not mishandle a hurting heart.

Unfortunately, these things are often learned best by having been in these shoes whereby your own heart has felt the sting of being misunderstood or mishandled. This, in itself, pours compassion now used to give others what they truly need.

Trust me when I tell you that every past pain has the ability to become a future help to you with others.

Ultimately, I must have their best interest at heart and I have to rely completely on God and His timing.

If I’m unsure what to do or say, I wait.

I would encourage anyone who is ministering the love of Christ and the good news of the gospel to be careful with the hurting.

It is a serious matter with the Lord Jesus. Remember, He is particularly near to a broken heart. I have found that He tends to guard them fiercely.

So should we❤️