Are Your Roots Healthy?: Biblical Soul Care to Regenerate Healthy Growth

by Katina Shoni Freeman

As women, we love a good head of hair. Some of you brothers do too. We spend countless hours each week shampooing, conditioning and styling our manes. If we're really about that life (and I most certainly am), we'll spend even more time researching our specific hair type and the products that we need to use to ensure that it not only looks good on the outside but that our hair and it's follicles are healthy on the inside, from the root outward. The companies that have the best advertising teams create ads that display women and men who have full, long healthy looking hair. And it doesn't hurt that these models or actors are typically attractive and physically fit; they look the part. 

But what if there's damage to the hair that goes beneath the surface of the scalp? What if the follicle has been destroyed at the root? And even worse, what if the damage was so severe that the stress or trauma to the follicle caused scar tissue to grow over it? Sis, (or bro) if that's the case, no amount of oils, conditioners or shampoos can penetrate through the scar tissue to regenerate the follicle. Ain't nothing causing that amount of breakthrough and healing but applying Jesus Himself to it! (John 1:14) And we can certainly access Him in that capacity to do just that...but that's another conversation for another time. 

Self Care. 

This phenomenon exploded into the internet culture a few years back. Go to the gym, book a day at the spa, take that much needed solo vacation trip to a beach resort (Ok, so I actually did this one and I'm ready for a redo), go out on a date with yourself to that bougie restaurant that's trending on social media. While all of these things are good and sound both fun and relaxing; what about soul care? How are the roots to your soul looking? Are they healthy or has unresolved trauma damaged them so much so that it seems as if the damage is irreparable? To fully understand this, let's take a look first at what the soul is. Much like a man or a woman consists of three parts- body, soul and spirit; the soul is also made up of three distinct parts- mind, will and emotions. The mind is where our thoughts are processed, it is what we think. The will is where our actions are contemplated, it is what we want to do. And the emotions are how we feel...sad, good, happy, hopeless, anxious.... So God, Who is a tripartite being (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) created us in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), consisting of three parts. And then the part of us that will have an awareness of eternity consists of three parts. When Jesus said that there will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth in Hell (Matthew 13:42), it's because the soul will be so tormented with thoughts of depression, anxiety, grief, hopelessness, suicide ideation, anger, fear, lust, strife, bipolar depression, schizophrenia, greed, envy - all the things that grieve God that His children choose to partake in and refuse to be set free of...and there will be no relief, no resolve. It'll be a continual torment FOREVER. 

Let that sink in. 

Many of you are being tormented in your soul now. You are constantly thinking of how to get even with someone who hurt you deeply, you're saved but mad as hell...but you're also a Christian and you love the Lord. You have a smile on your face but the smile is just a coverup for functional depression; your thoughts don't align with the outside. (That was me when I was encountering church hurt in 2005. I smiled, prayed for people while my thoughts were so dark that I wanted to die.) Or what about this one: You don't know why but you bounce from man to man, or woman to woman, in unhealthy, dead-end relationships because you have never taken the time to address the hurt in your soul that was caused by a parent who rejected you. No amount of spa days, solo beach vacations, or selfies on your self love date can reverse that trauma. The sexual abuse that you endured when you were a kid...the malicious words that someone spoke over you...the unresolved abandonment and rejection issues that show up as triggers when someone shows signs of disloyalty. These are all soul issues. Every scenario that I just gave is either a thought, desire or a feeling. Much like a once traumatized hair follicle that is now covered with scar tissue, the only way to heal the soul is to become completely uncovered, uproot the lies that caused the damage and refill the space with the Word of God. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

UnCovered devotionals are written to help you to identify the root of whatever fruit continues to show up in your life from unhealed places. These devotionals are not typical. They are not written to make you feel good. They are written to trigger you. They are written to help you to uncover the thing that's tormenting your soul. As God was downloading the UnCovered framework to me for the devotionals, He said, " I want you to do it too." Meaning, He wanted me to also write a devotional. I hadn't planned to; the idea for the devotionals was something that I was gifting a group of women who were coming to my retreat. I was only going to coach them through writing theirs but, in obedience, I did and on the first day, I uncovered the root to me being kicked out of church over 20 years ago. 

Use this link to grab your help. 

Day 5 Snip from UnCovered: When Love Became My Lesson by Jalyn Belle. If you read this and can relate; this devotional is for you. Use the link above to order yours. It's time to get UnCovered. Share this with someone who needs to be UnCovered. 

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