Why Spiritual Band-Aids Keep You Wounded
Imagine you've been shot. You stumble into the emergency room, bleeding, in excruciating pain, with a bullet lodged deep in your chest. The doctor examines you, smiles warmly, and says, "Well, I'm going to pray for you. Maybe click your heels three times and say 'there's no place like home.' I'll give you a shot of morphine to numb the pain and send you home with a lollipop and a sticker. But I'm not going to remove the bullet or clean the wound."
You'd think that doctor was insane, right? You'd demand real medical treatment. You'd insist they remove the bullet, clean the wound, and treat the infection before it spreads.
Yet when it comes to emotional and spiritual wounds, we often settle for exactly this kind of surface-level treatment. We pray, we get temporary relief, maybe we feel better for a moment—but we never deal with the actual source of the problem.
The bullet stays lodged inside, and eventually, the infection will take us out.
The Danger of Leaving Bullets Inside
Let me tell you about my friend Jonathan—not his real name, but his story is painfully real. Jonathan was a brilliant theologian and preacher. People came from miles around to hear his in-depth revelation about Scripture. He had a gift for making complex biblical concepts accessible and practical.
But Jonathan had some bullets inside that he'd never dealt with.
During his childhood, things happened that left deep wounds. Parts of him got stuck back there. He learned to survive by becoming the smartest person in the room, by being in control, by making sure he never appeared vulnerable or weak.
For years, his ministry thrived. His intellect and charisma carried him far. But those old wounds were festering under the surface. The bullets were still there, and infection was spreading.
Eventually, it all came crashing down. The narcissism that helped him survive childhood became the very thing that destroyed his ministry. He manipulated people, lied when cornered, and refused to face the real problems. When confronted, he'd outmaneuver counselors and convince them it was everyone else's fault, not his.
His ministry had to close. Relationships were shattered. Lives were damaged.
All because the bullets from childhood trauma were never removed.
How Trauma Fragments Us
Here's what happens when we experience trauma, especially as children: our minds have a built-in protection system. When there's too much pain or too much overwhelming experience flowing through us—more than we have the capacity to handle—our emotional circuit breaker flips off.
Think of it like the electrical breaker box in your house. If there's too much electricity flowing through the system, the breaker trips to prevent a fire. That's actually a good thing—it's protection.
The same thing happens in our hearts and minds. When there's too much pain, too much trauma, our internal breaker flips off. We dissociate. We fragment. Parts of us get stuck back in that moment while the rest of us moves forward.
This is actually a gift from God when you're little and going through something traumatic. Your brain can essentially "turn off" and let you survive an event without fully processing it in the moment. When you're a child without the capacity, tools, or safe people to help you process trauma, this dissociation keeps you alive.
But here's the problem: if those fragments are never brought back together, if those wounds are never healed, you end up living with parts of yourself scattered in the past. The bullets are still there, and they affect everything—your relationships, your decision-making, your ability to trust, your capacity to love and be loved.
Why the Church Struggles with Deeper Healing
So why don't we deal with these deeper wounds? Why do we settle for surface-level prayer when we need bullet removal surgery?
Several reasons:
We've been taught that faith should be enough. The enemy has convinced us that if we just have enough faith, if we just pray hard enough, everything should be fixed instantly. We've bought into microwave Christianity—say the magic words and be healed.
We're afraid of the process. Removing bullets and cleaning wounds is painful. It's messy. It takes time. It's easier to just put a spiritual band-aid on it and hope for the best.
We've spiritualized everything. We act like getting emotional or psychological help means we lack faith. We'll go to a doctor for a broken arm without thinking twice, but we feel guilty about seeing a counselor for a broken heart.
We don't want to feel those emotions. The church has somehow decided that negative emotions are unspiritual. "Don't be angry." "Just forgive and move on." "Think positive thoughts." But God created all our emotions, including the difficult ones. They're information, not sin.
We're afraid of being judged. There's often shame around trauma, mental health struggles, or needing help. We put on our Sunday best and pretend everything's fine rather than admitting we're bleeding internally.
The Truth About Healing
But here's what I've learned: Jesus really did come to heal the brokenhearted. The Hebrew word for "broken" there is shabar—it means shattered into pieces. He came to take those fragments and bring them back together into wholeness.
That healing doesn't always happen instantly, and it doesn't always happen without our participation. Sometimes God heals through supernatural intervention at the altar. Sometimes He heals through doctors, counselors, medication, and therapeutic processes. Sometimes He heals through the patient love of community over time.
He's the healer either way. The method doesn't matter—what matters is that we get healed.
Isaiah 61:1 says, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (NIV).
Notice what's included: binding up the brokenhearted. Not just preaching to them. Not just praying over them. Binding up—that's medical language. That's hands-on, get-in-there-and-fix-it language.
The Partnership Principle in Healing
Just like physical healing, emotional and spiritual healing often requires a partnership between the spiritual and natural realms.
James made this clear: "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17, NIV). You can't just say "be healed" to someone who's bleeding and call it good. There has to be action to go with the faith.
This means:
Yes, pray for healing, AND seek qualified help
Yes, trust God for restoration, AND do the hard work of therapy
Yes, believe in divine intervention, AND take your medication
Yes, have faith for breakthrough, AND set healthy boundaries
Yes, expect miracles, AND cooperate with the healing process
It's not either/or—it's both/and.
Signs You Might Need Bullet Removal
How do you know if you have old wounds that need deeper healing? Here are some signs:
You've turned your emotions down. You don't feel as intensely as you used to—not just the painful emotions, but the good ones too. You can't selectively numb. When you turn down pain, you also turn down joy, love, and connection.
You act differently in different settings. You have a "church face" and a "work face" and a "home face." You've learned to survive by being whoever others need you to be rather than being authentically yourself.
You avoid conflict at all costs—or you always create it. Both can be signs of unresolved trauma. Some people flee from any tension; others unconsciously create drama because chaos feels familiar.
You struggle with intimacy. Either you can't let people get close, or you let them get too close too quickly. Healthy boundaries feel impossible.
You have patterns you can't seem to break. Despite your best efforts and prayers, you keep falling into the same destructive cycles in relationships, work, or personal habits.
You feel disconnected from yourself. You go through the motions of life but feel numb, empty, or like you're watching yourself from the outside.
The Courage to Seek Deeper Healing
If any of this resonates with you, here's what I want you to know: seeking deeper healing isn't a sign of weak faith. It's an act of courage. It's partnering with God to become the whole person He created you to be.
The bullets won't remove themselves. The wounds won't heal just because you ignore them. But with the right help—whether that's a skilled counselor, a support group, a healing ministry, or a combination of approaches—those fragments can be reintegrated. Those wounds can be cleaned and healed. You can become whole.
Holy Spirit wants to be part of that healing process. He's not threatened by therapists or medication or treatment programs. He can work through all of it to bring you to wholeness.
Your Next Step
If you've been trying to manage symptoms instead of addressing root causes, if you've been putting spiritual band-aids on deep wounds, if you've been hoping prayer alone will fix what requires active participation in healing—it's time to consider a different approach.
Ask Holy Spirit to show you what deeper healing might look like for you. Maybe it's finally dealing with childhood trauma. Maybe it's addressing depression or anxiety. Maybe it's working through grief you've been avoiding. Maybe it's learning to set healthy boundaries or developing emotional intelligence.
Whatever it is, don't be afraid of the process. Yes, bullet removal hurts. But leaving the bullet in will eventually kill you.
You were meant to be whole. You were meant to be free. And sometimes, the path to that freedom goes through the very places you've been avoiding.
The truth will set you free—but first, you have to be willing to face it, feel it, and work through it.
Your healing matters. Not just for you, but for everyone whose life you'll touch once you're whole. The world needs the healed version of you.
It's time to remove the bullets.
Blessings,
Susan 😊