(Photo reference: http://vividlife.me/ultimate/41223/breaking-the-chain-of-pain/)
III. A. Recognize you are bitter and decide to forgive – Part 3A-2: In this section, I am still talking about the connection between the mind and body; showing you how not forgiving your offender is killing you spiritually and physically. The toxic emotions of angriness, hatred, self-hatred, jealousy, fear, bitterness, self-bitterness, sorrow, guilt, etc., can create disease in a person’s soul, which will affect us not only physically but spiritually. The validity of this concept can be fully explained by Dr. Art Mathias in his book,“Biblical Foundations of Freedom Destroying Satan’s Lies With God’s Truth!” In this teaching, I will explain the validity of the mind/body connection briefly to you using three points of views: 1) Personal testimony by Dr. Art Mathias, who has conducted much research on unforgiveness and its correlation between mind and body, 2) Medicine/psychology, and 3) Spiritual; they are all in agreement with each other.
- First point of view – Personal:Dr. Mathias, who I am affiliated with, was healed in January 1999 from a disease called, “Environmental Illness;” after discovering he had toxic emotions (unforgiveness, fear, and resentment), he repented and God healed him. This is what Dr. Mathias said: “When I went before God and dealt with my sins of unforgiveness and resentment, and cast off fear, God was faithful: He healed me. He produces a radical change in my health that was obvious to many people. People started asking what had happened. I had changed physically, and they saw the difference in my appearance.” From childhood I have been hurt many times by people but I still had to forgive them; it does not matter what they did to me. I also had to forgive myself for making unwise decisions and mistakes throughout my life. I use to live in shame, regret, guilt, confusion, fear, anxiety, etc. until God let me knew I had to forgive not only the people but myself. It was not easy but He helped me to forgive and that forgiveness set me free from the other bondages. You must deal with what happened to you! Time does not heal old wounds! But forgiveness does; there is power and freedom in forgiving someone or yourself.
- Second point of view – Medicine/Psychology: Dr. Mathias said there are hundreds of studies that have confirmed negative emotions suppress the immune system. This happens because when our immune system is suppressed, any disease can take over. These studies also confirm that positive emotions enhance the immune system. There is an entire disciple within psychology, called Psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the interaction or interrelations of emotions and behaviors and how they affect the endocrine or hormonal system and the immune system. Psychology teaches that our psychological state (the way we choose to respond to stress and Stress is thought to affect immune function through emotional and/or behavioral manifestations such as anxiety, fear, tension, anger and sadness and physiological changes such as heart rate, blood pressure, and sweating.) creates a central nervous system response (electrical), and endocrine system response (hormonal) and a behavioral change that may result in an immune system change that cause disease susceptibility.
May the peace of God comfort you ALWAYS!!!
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks
NOTE: These materials are copyright protected therefore you must request permission to reproduce any part of this material. To request permission, please contact Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks: drdehooks@abusedwoman.org.
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