Video: Discerning the Voices

“You have voices that have become resident in you,” says Dr. Dan Allender in this video, part of our ongoing series engaging topics related to trauma, abuse, and the hope for healing. “You’ve got a world of words that you need to begin to engage.”

As we address issues of abuse, harm, and loss in our lives, we will be inundated by a complex interplay of voices and messages about our lives and our experiences. Dan argues that sometimes we hear the voice of God, sometimes we hear the voice of evil, and other times we hear internalized voices of our parents, friends, spouses, and others in our lives—including those who have harmed us.

“God created the world with a word—He spoke, and the world was created. His son, Jesus, is called the Word of God. So words are rather important, and the voices will be a central part of the work of engagement with the past, the present, and the future.”

“Contempt is always contrary to the work of God and always contrary to the work of life.”

Dan says that, if there is one theme we should focus on when discerning the multiplicity of voices inside us, it is the theme of contempt. It is crucial that we learn to slow down, journal, and identify the voices of contempt and the ways they seek to slow our movement toward restoration.

“It is kindness that leads to change—not judgment, not guilt, not pressure, not demand, but kindness. And kindness will always be written and spoken in a way that meets you where you are and yet kindly invites you to where your heart most intends to go.”

These videos are scratching the surface of the deep, weighty, and crucial exploration of trauma and restoration that we offer in our brand new Healing the Wounded Heart online course, which has grown out of the material in Dan’s 1989 book The Wounded Heart and the 25-year retrospective Healing the Wounded Heart. This new online course will invite you to deeper engagement of your stories of harm and your hope for healing. We have been humbled by the process of creating this course and would be honored to have you join us, whether individually, with your spouse, or with a small group. Learn more here.