Belonging

You are ready to go on the journey, a journey that requires entering into some form of discomfort, perhaps incredible pain as you begin to unpack the load that you carry. One piece of advice, don't go it alone! We are far better at growth and change when we are in community than when we try to go it alone. Unfortunately, what experience may have taught you is that it is better to go it alone. If that is you, whatever is in that pack you are carrying is going to be in some way related to the way this belief has come about. Part of the process of healing is going to necessitate relational healing. That means finding people you can trust, understanding how to trust and stepping into the vulnerability that is involved in trusting. It may also involve becoming more discerning in who you can trust. And that is going to be at the least uncomfortable. But knowing that you belong to something bigger than yourself is going to be a marker that you are on the right path. This may involve struggling with God and your image of Him and what you perceive his role to be in your life. It may involve confronting someone either in person or through some therapy. It may involve facing someone you have caused pain and asking for forgiveness. And in some places relationships can be healed and the sense of belonging can be renewed. But in other instances we are brought into new relationships that counter all that our old relationships taught us that caused us harm. There is a grieving in this, a loss of what should of or could have been. And this grief clears room for new things to blossom. And when new relationships blossom there is healing, there is a felt sense of belonging. The load becomes lightened

on the metanoia path.

With whom and where do you belong right now? What would it look like (or does it look like) to have a healthy safe sense of belonging?