The Right Help by Gregory and Saryta Colbert

About a year and a half ago, we had to take our youngest son to the hospital because of a 3^rd degree burn he suffered on his right forearm.  When we arrived, they quickly began treating the burn. He wasn’t in much pain, which was later explained that the burn was so severe that the pain receptors had been burned in that area which kept him from feeling any pain associated with the burn.

They proceeded to clean the burned area and after it dried they applied a special cream for this type of injury. They wrapped his arm in gauze and then explained to us that we would have to be very intentional regarding the care for the next week or so.

They were glad we brought him into the emergency room when we did, they had seen many cases like this where people thought they could just apply whatever they had at home in their own medicine cabinets and later suffered a worse effect due to infection. Some even suffered things as bad as gangrene and had to have that area of the body cut out or even amputated. What a relief to know we took care of the issue before it had gotten worse.

All of our marriages experience times of hurt, pain and injury, leaving them in need of emergency attention. Over the course of our marriage, we have found that there are a few different ways in approaching these types of injuries. Often times we choose to ignore them all together, hoping to keep the peace. Our pain receptors become so injured that our response is numbness. We then sweep the issues under the rug with the thought that one day they will dissipate into thin air and never plague or marriage again. Or maybe ignoring issues is not your style, and you’d rather choose to handle things yourself. Allowing the popular teaching “what goes on in the house, stays in the house” to become your basis of taking matters into your own hands. We can also tend to find value in sharing our marital dysfunctions with an outside source. Only to find out that it’s not the sharing but who you share with that makes all the difference. It wouldn’t have been beneficial to take our son to Chuck E. Cheese or to Toys R Us, when those places don’t provide the type of assistance we needed at that particular time. In the end, we have found that the starting point in the healing process of our marriage is getting the issue to the right help.

The right help is able to provide the treatment necessary to begin the healing process and then lead you in the direction of a healthy married life. We’ve found that the take home instructions from the right help are the catalysts to prevent further injury and produce health and healing. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:14 (MSG) Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

God has designed our lives, and proven through scripture that a life with the right help is a life inspired to do better. We must begin to identify the people around us who exhibit the fullness of the mind of Christ and maximize these potential opportunities that add Godly value in our marriages.

There is an innumerable value to finding the right help from the right people; furthermore, it is the application that separates the good marriages from the great ones.

We look forward to continuing with part II of this entry: “Apply Liberally.”