A note from Kelly King: Alignment is an important principle in many situations. Whether it’s the alignment of our cars, our bodies, or our souls, being out of alignment has consequences. In today’s article, Kaye Hurta, addresses this principle and its significance.
My husband has been in excruciating back pain for the past four months. He is (relatively) young, in good health, and athletic, so this season of pain has been extremely annoying. While he has a degenerative back disease, the cause of this pain was from a herniated disc. It took months to figure that out. Last week he had back surgery, and I am happy to report he is on the mend.
What could knowing that have to do with ministering to women in pain? Let me explain. In our house, we talk a lot about pain in general, mostly soul pain. We are always on the look out for pain’s lessons, and this back situation was no different.
I am not certain what my husband’s take-aways were, but the Lord used His situation to highlight a very important principle for me—the principle of alignment. My husband’s spine was out of alignment, and this was causing intense nerve pain. Similarly, when we are “out of alignment” within ourselves, it causes intense pain.
Here’s what I mean by that. We are one person made up of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. When one or more of those parts are out of alignment, we experience pain. That pain can manifest itself in a number of ways, including depression, despair, hopelessness, fatigue, and lack of direction or purpose to name a few. Early on in the diagnosis, the doctors were recommending a spinal fusion for my husband. The discussions around that provided a God-ordained visual for me around what was causing pain in my own life. I was out of alignment and needed a spiritual fusion. Once I could identify and name what was out of alignment, I could begin a strategy for my own “fusion surgery.”
As you minister to women in pain, quite often the cause of their pain is very clear—a hard diagnosis or a loss or crisis of some kind. Other times, it is harder to discern exactly where their pain is coming from. When that is the case, I would encourage you to consider the principle of alignment. By hearing their stories and asking questions, you will be able to determine whether the source of their pain is originating in their physical bodies or from a lack of soul care or spiritual brokenness. Identifying this allows you to take a more specific approach in caring for them.
So let me ask you…how is your own alignment? Is there an area of your life that is out of alignment and perhaps causing you some pain or inner turmoil? May I suggest you name the cause of your own pain and begin a dialogue about it with God? Perhaps there is something He is asking you to start, to stop, or to confess. Ask Him; He is longing to tell you. His desire is for you to live in perfect alignment—body, soul, and spirit.
Kaye Hurta has a Masters Degree in counseling from Liberty University and is a crisis counselor for Women’s Events through LifeWay Christian Resources. Whether speaking, singing, or listening, Kaye’s passion is to help others find intimacy with Christ and soul transformation through the living pages of His Word. Kaye met and married her husband Chris in Austin, Texas in 1987. They have two daughters through the miracle of adoption, Madison and Cami. They live in the Chicago burbs where they are both on staff at Willow Creek Community Church. Kaye is also a contributing author for the LifeWay resource, Women Reaching Women in Crisis.
