How many times have you asked yourself, “What is wrong with me?” Or you’ve asked the same question verbally or internally about someone you are frustrated with. I know I’m guilty of asking myself and others, “What is wrong with me or you?”
This is not the proper question to be asking ourselves or others. Let me illustrate this by giving you a word picture.
The scene is a public school classroom. The bell has rung, and the teacher begins teaching. Suddenly, the classroom door slings open banging against the wall, a student comes in, throws their backpack into a corner, pushes an empty chair out of the way, and slumps down into their chair. The typical response from the teacher would be, “What is wrong with you?” Wrong question to ask, even if the question is asked internally. The very nature of that question intensifies the situation because the student may not have had anything to eat since school lunch the day before, or may have been beaten the night before, or bullied on the way to school. The proper question to ask is, “What happened to you?” The whole context of the situation changes by changing the question.
The proper question to ask ourselves is not “What is wrong with me?” but instead “What happened to me?” We are all broken individuals, that is a given truth. What we don’t typically take into account is how the imprinting of our past has a deeper impact on us than we realize.
The question “What happened to me?” calls for self-examination, which is typically very painful, and we don’t like pain. That is why the pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars every year. We will do anything and everything possible to avoid pain, and self-examination is painful. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
We cannot deny that the events of our past have an influential impact on us today, from the way we think, respond, and communicate. This blog only scratches the surface of the question we need to ask ourselves “What happened to me?” and not “What is wrong with me?” But as you ask this painful question, you may be surprised at the truths the Holy Spirit may bring to the surface to promote healing and comfort you never thought possible.
