"Suddenly a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. 'Lord,' the man said, 'if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.' Jesus reached out and touched him. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be healed!' And instantly the leprosy disappeared." Matthew 8:2-3 NLT.

When the leper came to Jesus he knew that while Jesus had the power to heal him, it might not be his well. Jesus didn't heal every lame, blind, or leprous person he met. "If you are will, you can heal me." Jesus answered, "I am willing."

God won't give us everything we ask of him, but one thing he wishes for his children is emotional and spiritual healing. We all carry emotional baggage, and sometimes stumble under its weight. We've all been wounded and sport the scars to prove it.

But we don't have to carry these burdens alone. Lord, are you willing to heal me? "I am willing." The question I hear him asking in return is, "Are you willing to let me?"

Why would we ever prefer to hold on to our fear and pain? But why is it so hard to let it go? If we truly believed God had the power to heal us, we would surrender it to him. "Oh, you of little faith..." Why does the burden seem more real than the God of the universe?

Perhaps because we don't see the immediate results as this leper did. Our emotional healing is such a long process, and one in which we must participate. But the Great Physician longs to gently lead us on a journey that will teach us to trust and love him more fully. There is much to be gained in the journey itself. Take the first step.

"But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Romas 5:8 NLT

We seem to feel an innate need to earn God's love. If only we didn't use foul language and lose our temper, or if we attended church more regularly, we could feel more assured of God's approval. But despite all our flaws and imperfections, God loves us anyway.

It's unconditional love. We don't need to prove ourselves worthy of love: he accepts us just as we are. Before we had the opportunity to practice good behavior, before we were even born, Christ sacrificed himself for our benefit.

There's an unfortunate pressure in our society to earn love through different means. Women feel the need to be thin and beautiful to be loved. Men have to prove their strength and ability. And when we experience the inevitable rejections of life, we internalize the pain and it reinforces our fear that we just aren't good enough to be loved.

But true love has no conditions placed upon it. It encourages us to improve ourselves and fulfill our potential, but it doesn't wait until this is achieved. And God has given us the greatest example of unconditional love we'll ever need. Right now and in this moment, as imperfect as you are, God loves you.

There is freedom and joy in this truth. Yes, we should live to please him, out of gratitude and obedience, but not out of any obligation to earn his love. This he has freely given.

You don't have to be perfect to be loved.

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1 NIV

In Luke 4:21 Jesus read this passage and then proclaimed, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Today you and I can claim this reality for ourselves.

Along the way of life we've all had our hearts broken. We've all been wounded and scarred and are in need of healing. And Jesus came to bind up our wounds, to bandage them with love and tenderness. Physical cuts and bruises heal quickly and are soon forgotten. But emotional pain lingers long after the wound is inflicted.

The enemy wants nothing more than for us to continue to be held captive by our pain and fear. He whispers lies into our ears that reinforce the scars and keep us rooted in distrust and insecurity. He wants to rob us of the abundant life that Jesus offers. But Jesus came to set us free! He longs for us to know peace, joy, and love.

Give your brokenness to the Lord. He alone can heal your scars and set your captive heart free. If you fail to claim healing, in the end all you will have is regret. The enemy will have won. Close your ears to him: open your heart to Jesus. He longs to break your chains and to bring you out of the darkness and into the beautiful light of truth.

"No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening--it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way." Hebrews 12:11 NLT.

Have you ever made something and then realized that the only way to properly fix it is to completely undo and rebuild it? I am beginning to think that is what God is doing to me.

I remember the day I knew with certainty that I had been broken. And I felt that nothing and no one could ever heal my pain or mend my heart. My dreams were shattered and my life was in ruins. And my Heavenly Father had stood idly by and allowed it to happen.

Now I can look back and see that God was with me through it all, and more than that, he was allowing these things in order to bless me by shaping me more into the image of his son. There were three major areas of lack that I needed to confront: my lack of gratitude, my lack of absolute trust in him, and my lack of self-value.

The process has been torture, but I am learning to see my Father's kindness is the smallest aspects of my life. I realize that my life, heart, and dreams all rest in God's hands. And I am beginning to understand that my value is not determined by the opinions of others or even myself. My value rests in my identity as his creation and his child.

God broke me in order to make me whole. Has he allowed you to be broken? How is he reshaping you to make you whole?

"Don't store up treasures for yourself on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and theives do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." Matthew 6:19-21 NLT.

Now that Christmas is behind us, I hear lots of worries about paying the credit card debt that somehow spiraled out of control in December. It happens every year, even in a recession.

Although I didn't let the situation get away from me, I still wonder if my daughter could have been just as happy on Christmas morning if there had been two or three fewer presents under the tree. We spend so much time teaching "the true meaning of Christmas," but are we consistent with that teaching where there is so much emphasis on Santa and the pile of presents?

The unfortunate reality is that despite the recession, we still live in a culture of excess. We are oblivious of the influence it has on our values. I love the song by Casting Crowns about the American Dream. It's the story about a man who works too many long hours in order to give his family the finer things in life. He doesn't have time for them, but he keeps promising that things will get better. Of course, nothing changes and eventually his family is lost to him. "All they really wanted was you."

What would it look like if we made the choice that God and family were more important than achieving the "American Dream?" My favorite words from the song are these: "I'll take a shack on a rock over a castle in the sand." I call it the "Christian Dream."