Day 5 – Living Beyond the Hurt, Ready for Christ’s Return: Hope, Healing & Eternal Victory | Beyond the Hurt: When People Fail Us, God Remains Faithful

I know that this particular series has raised the ants’ nest in some of us, while in others, it has caused us to pause and even revisit some buried emotions, reflect on how we’ve handled hurt and disappointment, and see just how far God has brought us in the journey of healing.

Either way, it’s a good thing because God doesn’t stir what He doesn’t intend to heal. Oooh, that’s so good. Thank You, Holy Spirit. God doesn’t stir what He doesn’t intend to heal. Hallelujah.

If God has allowed old memories, emotions, or situations to surface, it’s not to shame us but to free us. Healing begins when we stop hiding the hurt and let Him deal with it once and for all.

We’ve walked through the pain of betrayal, anger, and disappointment. Some of us multiple times.

We’ve learnt how forgiveness frees us and how God’s promises remain unbroken. 

But there’s more work to be done on our part, because healing doesn’t end with letting go. And some of us may say, “Oh man! It was such a long, painful journey to overcome that hurt. There’s more?”

Holy Spirit says: The journey continues. It continues with how we live after the storm.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that growth in Christ is a daily surrender. “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31, NKJV). 

That means every day we lay down pride, self-defense, bitterness, and the need to prove a point. Healing is not a one-time event; it’s a daily decision to stay yielded, to die to what the flesh wants, and live how the Holy Spirit leads.

When we die daily, Family, we choose peace over payback, humility over hurt, and love over offense. That’s how true healing takes root; not by what happens to us, not by what anyone tells us to do or not to do, but by how we respond afterward.

Many of us carry invisible scars from what people did or didn’t do — the broken marriage, the business deal that went wrong, the friend who vanished when we needed them most. 

But when we stop rehearsing the hurt and start rehearsing God’s Word, this posture leaves room for healing to take place. 

Again, Paul knew what it meant to be misunderstood and mistreated. He wrote, “At my first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:16–17, NKJV). 

When others disappeared, God remained. That’s the anchor for every believer. People may walk away, but God never leaves. Hallelujah.

Job also understood this truth. Betrayed by friends who blamed him for his suffering, he still declared, “He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10, NKJV). 

Pain didn’t end Job’s story; purpose did.

And for us, the journey is the same. The tests, the tears, the betrayals — they are all temporary. 

1 Peter 5:10, ESV: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace… will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”. 

That’s the promise that carries us beyond the hurt. Did you get that? Do we get it? “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace… will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”. 

So, family, what do we do while we wait for that full restoration? 

We live ready. We forgive quickly. We keep short accounts. We love freely, even if love isn’t returned. 

Because soon, the One who never broke a promise will return to make all things new. Glory to God.

Hebrews 10:37, NKJV“For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry”.

Let’s live beyond the hurt, my brothers and sisters, not pretending it never happened, but proving that grace is greater than pain. 

Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, who endured the cross, despised the shame, and now sits victorious at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2, NLT).

This is our hope: not in what was lost, not in what this family member, close friend, church brother or sister, or business partner did to hurt us; but in who we’ve become through it.

I pause to smile and say thank You Jesus.

Why? Because, and I can’t testify for you, but I am stronger, wiser, better, freer, and more anchored in the unshakeable love of Jesus Christ.