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How to Find Healing and Restoration in Obedience

As you grow in obedience to the Lord, God will begin to show you how to find healing and restoration into your life.

If you’re like me, you may sometimes think of obedience like a child views obeying their parents. But why? I want to shout as God commands something very difficult of me. It’s easier to stay stuck in our patterns, habits and hurts. Naturally, we become comfortable there. 

But God calls us out of these broken places in obedience. He promises healing and restoration. He promises beauty from ashes.

How to Find Healing and Restoration in Obedience

And yet so often, as C.S. Lewis says, I am “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 

So often I become far too comfortable in my discomfort, far too comfortable in the lack and brokenness and I do not realize that just a short distance away is something beautiful.

When I was about 19 years old, God woke me up to this truth in big ways. I had been stuck in the deep brokenness and hurt of my past for most of my life. My mind was webbed in and tied down by strongholds so deep I could not even recognize them. 

I had given my life to Christ several years prior, and yet I walked forward in this brokenness, unaware of what life could be like without it.

Without knowing it, I was walking in disobedience. My mind was filled with lies and I was acting on those lies. I was living from this place of brokenness and it caused me to fall into sin in so many ways. 

It was a cycle that left me stuck with mud pies and yet I thought it was the best that I could have and so I clung to it.

But soon anxiety began to shatter this illusion. I began struggling in such big ways that I could no longer function well. I began having flashbacks, anxiety attacks and all sorts of associated struggles. And at the time, I thought that God had abandoned me. I thought that He had left me at Satan’s disposal. 

But looking back (hindsight is 20/20, right?), I now see that God dug up these strongholds and allowed them to surface so that I could recognize the areas of my life and heart that needed to be aligned with Him. 

And as I began to seek God’s will and learned how to obey His commands over my life, I began to find immense healing and restoration. Looking back, I don’t know how I lived that way for so long. I cannot imagine going back to that dark and broken place. And yet I know there are still areas of my life where I am not in complete obedience to the Lord. 

Are there areas in your life that may not be in complete obedience to the Lord?

Let’s take a look at how those places in our lives where we want to stay comfortable with our “mud pies” can be transformed and renewed in obedience.

Unveiling the Illusion of the “Mud Pies”

It took a serious and painful experience with anxiety for me to recognize that there were places in my heart and my mind that I had been keeping from the Lord. But there are other ways to uncover these places in our lives that are not in obedience to God.

I want to go through a couple of things that you can incorporate into your life today that will help you uncover these areas in your own life. 

This won’t be easy and honestly, it may be quite painful, but I believe that God is calling you to obedience. And when you surrender these places of your life to Him and walk forward in obedience, God will be faithful in restoring your broken heart and renewing your mind and life.

Spend time in Scripture

Reading the Bible every day is a powerful way to see the areas in your life that are not aligned with God’s will. 

Recently, as I’ve read about a peace that surpasses understanding, I realized that my mind was often wandering away from the thoughts that God calls me to. Reading Scripture revealed this area that was misaligned and gave me the tools to align my thoughts with Christ.

As you read, pray that God will show you areas in your life that need to be aligned with Him.

Find Accountability or a Mentor

Sometimes we are so stuck in our struggle that we fail to see clearly. It was through some powerful mentors and friendships in my life that I began to remove this veil. And as I did, these people were the support system and encouragement through the tough and trying process. 

I don’t know where I’d be without some of these life-changing relationships and I am forever grateful for the honesty and challenge that they gave me through this time.

Who can you reach out to, whether it be a friend, mentor, pastor or counselor, that can help you to take a step back and see clearly where you are not walking in alignment with the Lord.

Ask God to Reveal Satan’s Schemes

This was a monumental practice for me, not only when I was really struggling, but even still in many areas of my life.

When I first got married, I was not walking in complete obedience as to how I was called to love and serve my husband. And because of this, there was constant struggle in our relationship.

When I began asking God to reveal Satan’s schemes to me, I began feeling convicted every time I was acting or speaking out of a lie that I was believing. Seeing where Satan was trying to tear me down and tear apart my marriage drastically changed the way that I approached my marriage. I turned instead to surrender and prayer, asking God to help me be the wife that He calls me to be.

Begin a Prayer Journal

I have found that in writing down fervent and specific prayers, my prayer life has transformed. Before, I would sit down to pray and often find my mind wandering or become discouraged. 

In a prayer journal, you can write out a detailed prayer, asking God to help you walk in obedience, praying against Satan’s influence, asking for restoration and strength to remain in obedience. And you can pray these fervent prayers daily.

I also love that you can write out your answers to prayer and your praises. I find my prayers transform over time as I see God bringing me through the healing process.

How Obedience Leads to Restoration and Healing

You may be wondering how the struggle and effort of walking in obedience will lead you to restoration. 

God has called us to follow Him and His decrees and these were not set in place just for fun. Many of the very things He calls us to are set in place as a means of keeping us in a healthy place and keeping us from harm.

Just as our parents set rules to keep us from getting hurt or getting in harm’s way, God’s calling us towards a life of joy and peace and abundance.

God wants to bring you peace. He wants you to live in a place of abundance. Will you answer this call and begin walking in complete obedience to Him?

It doesn’t happen overnight, but you can begin by working on some of the things listed above. I hope that as you seek to obey Him, you will begin to see restoration and healing in the broken places of your heart. 

I'd love for you to share in the comments below: What is one way that God has brought you healing through obedience? Or share how you've struggled to walk in obedience.

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8 Comments

  1. I’m in a place even now unlike anything I have ever “seen” – a place of darkness and uncertainty…a froth of heightened anxiety and billowing fear…and being still before God is incredibly difficult…I’m thankful for this blog, it helps me to know that truly, I’m not alone, May the Lord our God in Christ have His way with me and give me the strength to bear the weight of his pruning touch…I’ve heard it said, “Never is the Vinedresser closer to the vine than when He is pruning them” Thank you Lord and thank you for your beautifully written blogs…please pray for me

  2. I struggle with obedience and I need to make that a priority. There are areas of my life that I haven’t completely opened up to the Lord about that need healing. I’m definitely going to work on that.

  3. I appreciate your vulnerability in sharing your story, and the clear, specific steps you’ve given to be obedient and find healing in that.

  4. “So often I become far too comfortable in my discomfort, far too comfortable in the lack and brokenness and I do not realize that just a short distance away is something beautiful.” — This is a powerful thought. Thank you for sharing!

  5. Obedience is an area in which I struggle and have for years…like, forever. But, when I do have of periods when I am obedient to the Lord in ALL things, I feel such a sense of peace in letting God lead my life.

    1. YES! I can completely relate, Katherine, it is hard to stay consistent because temptations and distractions are always seeming to pop up. But it is so powerful when we do find the strength to walk in obedience and find that peace!

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