Today’s topic is about pursuing wholeness this week! Because, who doesn’t what that, right?
Around New Life Community, we talk a lot about healing and wholeness. Why? Well, one of God’s names is, Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26), which means “Healer,” and wholeness describes who God is. He is perfect—nothing missing and nothing broken. Scripture even calls the LORD, “Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6) which indicates that it’s only in and through Him that we can find this kind of rightness. Completeness is the substance of shalom, which by the way, means so much more than our cursory definition of peace.
Shalom talks about the fullness of peace which includes harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility. This is God’s standard, and His idea of wholeness transcends our human understanding of what perfect and right really is. He designed us in His image which means every human soul is hard wired for Shalom.
There is a deep longing in each of us for success, fulfillment, wholeness. We all want to feel right from the inside out, yet we often such for solutions of dis-ease in all the wrong places. We are more than flesh and blood, we are woven together also with emotional and mental aspects.
First we need to consider an integrated plan of care. Too often we compartmentalize ourselves instead of focusing on the whole being. Remembering that we are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual beings is good place to start, because then, it helps us evaluate areas that may be deficient, broken, or empty.
If you are anything like me, I’m sure you’ve wrestled with disappointment when the healing process lingers longer than you want. Frankly, this is just human nature—it just wants what it wants. None of us like the discomfort of dis-ease, regardless of what form it takes, because pain is never pleasant.
Cultivating a habit of evaluating all four tanks, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, is very helpful in learning to recognize health. We function better when all four tanks are full, because balance helps maintain health. I want to invite you to check out this week’s episode on, The Pastor and the Counselor as Pastor Ryan, Jon Burchard, and Corryn Vento talk about wholeness and how to implement some helpful practices that promote wholeness.
PodcastWritten by Maureen Brown
Maureen Is our Worship and Communications Pastor. She has served New Life Community alongside Pastor Ryan for 19 years. She is passionate about Jesus and His Church, which is why she does what she does. Maureen has been leading worship, teaching, and mentoring her entire adult life. She graduated in 1996, from Emmanuel Bible College with a Bachelor of Religious Education in Professional Studies with a double minor in Christian Education and Music and then married Ryan—the love of her life. Maureen is a blogger so she brings a special set of gifts that are well used in the area of Communications here at NLC.