Healing The Wounded Heart

Healing the Wounded Heart (2004) by Dudley J. Delffs – Scripture Union

Hearts are inconvenient things.

They are perfectly capable of keeping you alive while simultaneously storing decades of disappointment, grief, resentment, fear and several conversations you really ought to have forgotten by now.

Healing the Wounded Heart by Dudley J. Delffs, published by Scripture Union in 2004, is a Christian self-help and devotional book aimed at people carrying emotional pain and trying to work out what to do with it.

The title is not especially subtle.

There is a wounded heart.

Healing is required.

Fortunately, unlike most household repairs, no screwdriver appears to be necessary.

Delffs writes from a Christian perspective, exploring the ways hurt, loss, broken relationships and unresolved emotional wounds can shape a person’s inner life. The focus is on recovery through faith, reflection, forgiveness and the gradual process of allowing painful experiences to stop dominating the present.

Which is easier to write than to do.

Human beings are remarkably good at keeping old injuries alive.

We replay arguments.

We remember insults.

We mentally rewrite situations from fifteen years ago and finally think of the perfect response just as we are trying to fall asleep.

This book attempts to interrupt that process.

It encourages readers to look honestly at emotional pain rather than simply burying it under busyness, politeness or the traditional British solution of making tea and pretending everything is fine.

The Christian element is central.

Healing is approached through prayer, scripture and a belief in God’s ability to bring restoration where people have been hurt.

That makes the book particularly suited to readers who want emotional guidance grounded in faith rather than purely secular psychology.

There is also an emphasis on forgiveness, which is one of those ideas that sounds wonderfully simple until another human being becomes involved.

Forgiveness does not necessarily mean pretending nothing happened, approving bad behaviour or suddenly becoming delighted about everything.

Instead, it is presented as part of the process of becoming less controlled by past wounds.

A useful ambition.

Possibly an ambitious one.

Published in 2004, the book belongs to that substantial tradition of Christian practical writing that tries to connect faith with the awkward emotional realities of everyday life.

Not abstract theology.

Not arguments about obscure doctrine.

Actual people.

Actual pain.

Actual relationships.

Which are usually much harder.

It should appeal to readers interested in Christian counselling, emotional healing, forgiveness, grief, recovery and spiritual growth, as well as anyone who has found that simply telling themselves to “move on” has proved surprisingly ineffective.

This copy is in Good condition, making it a solid reading copy for anyone looking for thoughtful Christian guidance through difficult emotional territory.

Ideal for personal reading, church study, pastoral support or anyone whose emotional filing cabinet has become rather too full.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where wounded hearts are treated sympathetically, damaged dust jackets slightly less so, and all forms of healing are considered preferable to throwing the book across the room.

ISBN: 9781844270606
Condition: Good

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