I was watching a show recently about a couple that had gotten lost while driving to a funeral in another state and they ended up stranded in a wilderness area with no way out because there had been a recent snowstorm, and the area was closed for part of the year. So they tried to walk out of the wilderness even in all the snow and freezing temperatures and the wife ended up having to hole up in a cave while her husband left to go find some help. While waiting for her husband her feet had frozen overnight and in the morning when the sun came out she took off her shoes and her feet were badly frostbitten and when the sun began to warm them she felt a sharp shooting pain because the cold had frozen the nerves in her feet and the warmth of the sun thawed them out. She actually put her feet back into the snow to refreeze them even though it would make the frostbite worse because she just wanted the pain to stop. The husband did end up finding help and they were all rescued and lived including their young baby, and even though both of the parents lost all their toes the baby was fine.

So why did I tell you this story? Well when we walk through the wilderness of life bad things happen that cause our soul and emotions to become frozen and damaged and we often use addiction to keep them frozen so that we don't feel the pain of the damage so much. When we quit the addiction and when the Holy Spirit begins to help us to face our pain we feel the pain acutely just like the girl who's feet had thawed and it can be tempting to run back to the pain relievers in order to make the pain stop again, but we must remember that when we do that that it just makes the damage worse. We need to be brave and trust God to help us to heal our damaged emotions rather than just trying to freeze or cover them up with addiction. God doesn't want you hurting over what has happened in your life and He is the only One that is capable of not only thawing your frozen heart, but of also healing all the damage that was caused and then using what happened to you to help others to find His help as well. Let God heal the emotional frostbite that has damaged you and be willing to face your pain.