God Heals All Wounds
My new read was different from most of my nonfiction books.
It was clinical in nature, written by a psychotherapist, and filled with a bunch of words I had to look up. It had been recommended to me by my husband early on in our marriage, but it took me 18 years to finally read it. Initially, I reasoned it wasn’t for me until life led me to it.
Then I couldn’t put it down.
Reading this book felt like a cross between therapy and intense research. With each page, I was learning more about myself. Eventually, I was struck by a single, numerical list: 20 needs that should be fulfilled in the life of every child. If unmet, these needs have the potential to create wounds in unsuspecting adults. They had done so in me.
I held my breath as I read through the list of needs: safety, validation, guidance, and many others. Those words described the needs I missed. Then I thought about the circumstances surrounding my unmet needs: my single mother, my absent and alcoholic father, and me.
It all felt so overwhelming. I was a 42-year-old woman attempting to process wounds I was still discovering.
