We live in a wounded and hurting world, and without healing, life would be more painful than it needs to be. To heal is to restore something or someone to soundness or health, to alleviate distress or anguish, or to correct an undesirable situation. There’s no way that we could fix all of the pain and sadness around us by ourselves. True healing on every level originates only from God.

The simplest injuries are the physical ones that doctors and hospitals can take care of, and God sent his son to empower the doctors to do so. But even the most experienced physicians have limitations, and the wisest individuals admit that miracles do happen. During his earthly ministry, Jesus—the great physician—healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the lame walk, and even brought back the dead. He bled and died to make this type of healing available to us. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

The more complex need is the one for emotional and spiritual healing, and God has that covered, as well. Very often, when we do something we know is wrong, we feel guilty for it later. If we let this type of emotional sore fester eventually we will feel ashamed of what we did, and our peace of mind will vanish. God’s will is to heal us, forgive us, and restore our peace. “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me” (Jeremiah 33:6, 8).

Shame is a spiritual sickness that can cripple us if we let it. There’s nothing we can do about our past mistakes; letting them go instead of constantly replaying them in our minds is part of the healing process. Moving forward and refusing to let them cause us any more pain is something God wants us to do. He offers us forgiveness, but we must be willing to forgive ourselves.

When Jesus went up on the cross, he took all the shame that was meant for us. He actually became shame itself, so it would have no more power over us. When we believe that, we agree with God’s word. “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’” (Romans 10:11, NKJV).

Instead of beating ourselves up over something we’ve done, we can forgive ourselves because God has already forgiven us. When the woman who was labeled a sinner came to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them, it was because she felt guilty and ashamed. He healed her spirit. “And he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And he said to the woman, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50).

God can heal us in amazing ways if we have faith in his ability and willingness to do so. He wants to take away our distress, and replace it with soundness of body, mind, and spirit. Will you let him?