To Healing Journey Leaders:
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The Congruent Person, our lesson for Week 24, sums up where we’re headed after our healing work is finished (see note below*). We don’t want our woundedness to be driving our life anymore. We don’t want our feelings or self-protection making our decisions. Instead, we want to live by our beliefs (the engine that should be running our train) and let God guide our steps. The goal is for our life to exude a single message: I live for Christ, alone.
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“Further orders” is a military term. It means you follow the orders given to you until you receive different orders. I believe that term applies to our service to the Lord. When he gives us orders, or a job to do, we are to do it until he says otherwise. We should not assume it is just a one-time deal, or that it is only until we don’t want to do it anymore, or it gets hard and pushes us out of our comfort zone.
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Healing Journey always pushes leaders out of their comfort zone. The very thing that likely drew you to this ministry in the first place (the fact that this class is a safe and effective place for wounded people to receive powerful freedom), is the thing that may have thrown you under the bus more than once this year. Healing work is messy work.
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You may be having a very challenging year as a leader. Very likely you’re a little worn out at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re counting the weeks. That is normal. (Yes, I count the weeks, too!) But don’t let your feelings drive your life. Let the Lord drive your life. I can’t say whether he has called you to continue leading Healing Journey next fall or not. I hope so! We need seasoned leaders who will improve their skills and maintain continuity in this ministry each year. It takes 2-3 years to even begin to be a good small group leader. (Attending Boot Camp helps tremendously! Coming back a second time helps even more.)
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It’s very possible you found yourself struggling this year to keep up with everything in your life and do a good job with Healing Journey. When that happens, it is tempting to say to yourself, “Well, I know how to solve this, I just need to give up doing the class.” Be careful about making that decision. Don’t give up what is truly important for things that are not as important. Instead, simplify the other parts of your life.
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“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1 NIV Emphasis mine).
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My message today is this: If the Lord has called you to this ministry, please stay with it until he tells you otherwise. Go, when he says it’s time to go. Until you receive “further orders,” stay with this ministry and you will receive infinite blessings as you watch people receive healing year after year!
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(*Very few people have finished their healing by the end of their first time through Healing Journey. Most will benefit from taking the class again in order to apply the healing principles to more areas of their woundedness. For many students, much of the first year is spent on learning to trust God and offering him “safer” areas of our healing. It’s not that God can’t complete healing in 7 months—he can. But we aren’t ready to let him into the deepest areas at the beginning.)
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Thank you for persevering through this year with your group. Your faithfulness is a conduit for Christ’s healing.
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…Relax and enjoy the journey.
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Tip of the Week:
This is the week you begin putting out “marketing packets” for your students to take to their friends and family members they want to invite to your next Healing Journey class. Reread Leadership Letter 21, to review that information, and page 114 in the Healing Journey Leader Guide. Advance preparation is also needed in order to be ready for the artwork project on Week 25. You need to buy or borrow some stuff. Do not be intimidated by the fact we’re making posters depicting our wounds, or let your students be intimidated. This is an AMAZING healing tool—trust me! Be positive and encouraging when you present this to your students, referring to my comments on pages 119 and 121 in your Leader Guide.
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His Healing Light Ministries’ Director
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