The Healing Path

The Healing Path by Dan Allender is the best book I have ever read. In an honest manner, Allender addresses the abiding questions of the heart regarding living in a fallen world. He does not sugar coat the reality of pain and struggle as humans walk this Earth, but he gives a perspective that is rich and provides more hope than is usually offered in self-help books. Allender takes the reader down a path that invites deep reflection on his past in order to learn to truly dream for his future. On this journey, hope, faith, and love replace the guilt, shame and doubt that have taken up residence in the human heart. Allender’s understanding of humanity fuels deep exposure of both the sinful ways people deal with their pain, and the effects of evil inflicted upon them. After walking the reader though how to get on the healing path, Allender then teaches how to bring this healing to others. He gives great, simple advice on how to engage others with hope and love, gently pursuing them in the midst of their stories. Throughout all of this, Allender shines a light upon the goodness of God, even in the desert, that is based upon God’s desire to have relationship with his people.
A lot of Christians seem to believe that trusting God means letting go of past pain and pressing on toward God, pretending everything is good. The general thought is what has passed is gone and the only thing we have power to change is the future. To this Allender says, “Many Christians seek to escape the hard task of facing damage; they want change without an honest look at life. The result is not only an incomplete redemption, but worse, a shallow grip of grace,” (p. 108). This poignant phrase, “shallow grip of grace,” unfortunately defines much of the Christianity in America. We believe that following God will bring a sort of euphoria to our lives. We are afraid to press into pain. In reality, “...redemption touches us more deeply than tragedy. But without tragedy, there could be no redemption,” (p. 128). God takes us into the desert and then mercifully woos us there (p. 138). “No matter how we have acquired our wounds, we all need the good news of the healing power of redemption: Evil meant our suffering for our destruction, but God meant it for our good,” (p. 6).
This is a radical, counter-cultural perspective that Allender is promoting. He argues that regardless of whether or not we are acknowledging it, everyone acts out of their past. “Everything hinges on the past. We will project the past into every new moment and either repeat our past themes of victimization or marvel at the work of God in redeeming us in spite of our questions and doubt,” (p. 147). When I think about it, I really agree with Allender. The aspects of my past that I desire to hide from are actually pivoting points around which my life revolves. I self-protect to ensure those topics are never addressed. The past so governs my present that I am robbed of true hope, true dreaming of a better future, and true relationships. I cannot grow if I am this committed to comfort (p. 149).
“We must so hunger for a different tomorrow that we risk losing today to gain it,” (p. 149). Hope will grow as we commit to honestly working through our past. When we are satisfied with how life is going, we do not risk. God uses the pain and sorrow in our lives to invite us to struggle with Him. The desert then becomes a place of seeing God afresh and in new ways. Our hearts an be opened to his gentle calling through the change to our soul that comes from struggle and pain. Instead of repeating the same cycles of pointlessness in our lives, God calls us to examine what is going on in our hearts and change the direction of our lives. True hope “invests in the present with the teeming, brimming abundance that is our promise of glory not only in heaven but now,” (p. 157). Hope is not a denial of the past, but an acceptance of both the struggles and the evil that have been interwoven into our stories.
By asking, “Which stories will win my heart?” (p. 131) we can come to see pain for what it is and choose to allow God to shape and form us through it. We can begin to be governed by stories of redemption instead of sorrow. We are able to open our hearts to the possibility of hopes and dreams. This will open us up to live in true community with others. Working through our pain with God will lead us into a deeper relationship with him than we ever thought possible. We are able to have a sense of joy that is based upon God rather than something we ourselves can muster. “Joy is not an absence of struggle or sorrow, but the taste of the presence of God as he surprises us with his gracious love, whatever our circumstances,” (p. 184).