God made us in His image. His intention for us, therefore, is that we be whole. Our spirit aligning with His Spirit so as to relate with Him and everyone else wholly—with nothing missing. However, as we go through life, certain things happen to us that leave us broken. 

It could be an abuse of a father that leaves us questioning our self-worth. It could be a form of rejection especially by the people so close to us. It could be a loss of someone or something so precious. It could be a sudden disability that leaves our hearts cracked.  Like a scratched CD, we can’t play well. These atrocities create a huge gap in our lives which brings about an emotional debt.  We find ourselves doing something that we don’t want to do—because we lack control over it. We often react negatively when those issues are poked.

There are several ways these emotional debts may manifest. Someone might have been sexually abused as a child and they grow up thinking they’re now ok only to enter marriage and start to feel insecure, not affirmed or at worst be reminded of that incidence whenever they get intimate with their spouse.

Another example is someone who has grown up dented as a result of insecurity. No matter what they get, they can never be satisfied. Their identity is in what they do, not in who God made them. Such a person will use any opportunity given to them—at work, school or home—to step on others.

Shockingly these vices show up even in church ministers. Someone could be a worship leader but every time they get up there, it’s really not about God. They love God and all, but such times are for them to get approval and show those that look down on them that they have finally made it. Many of the things that happen in people’s lives are actually not demons to be cast out but debts that need to be settled (of course am not saying there are no demons).

A young lady had been out of seven relationships and in all her explanations it was the men who had issues.  In her mind, there was nothing wrong with her—yet she was the constant factor. As she went on to explain, she said her mother had told her never to allow any man to command her. No one had a right to know where she was or what she was doing. The dent in her ranting was visible. Her mother had been hurt and she passed on the hurt to her daughter. She was carrying the same bitterness towards men.

There are people whose lives are different based on where they are. Their life at work is different from that at home and that at church. If there are places that make you defensive when you’re asked about them, then you need to sit down and check them. We need to understand that it’s for this very reason Christ came. He longs for our lives be restored to what he intended them to be. He meets the Samaritan woman in John 4 and as the conversation goes deeper, He pokes that place that defined her. For as she testifies about Him in the city, she says “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29). Being with men was all she ever did! Her knowing the history of the well and places of worship was not the interest of Christ rather her life was what Christ wanted to deal with. Many people today feel too shy to admit that they have issues. It is important for you to heal because you are today’s father, mother, relative, workmate. Let God deal with every dent in your life so that your hurt shall not wound the others around you. God desires to receive Glory through you and make your life count.