Hi Lilygrace,
Coming to faith is the start of a journey. My son self harms and even though I don’t understand it all I understand the reasons behind it and until those things are healed it will be something he needs to do from time to time. He is not a Christian yet. It took me so many years to feel secure in Christ, ut I equally had many things from my past that impacted my sense of worth, value and confidence. One book that did help was ‘ Victory over the darkness ‘ by Neil Anderson, now it didn’t bring me instant inner healing as that was something The Lord did over a longer period of time. However in the book Neil lists verses from scripture that you can proclaim, speak out. Promises. Now when I started speaking those verse I didn’t believe a single one of them, not deep down. Remember that our minds need to change and then that change impacts our hearts.
It’s only an idea, but maybe the book will help you as well. I believe all the promises now and have complete peace with my past. ( but I am much older now and I would say it was a 40 year journey to get to that point xx )
Much love to you x
Rita
I think as a teen (young adult), I personally had to get to the point where I could say, "oops I did it again," and not give the enrmy any credit for it.
That said, one cut or whatever can be fatal done the right way. I have found these things help:
For the physical sensation:
-Ice on skin
-Pressing between thumb and index finger
-bite on tongue
(Just gave me enough of a "wake up" to cope in a healthier way)
For visual/process
-red marker on skin
-journaling
Distraction:
Anything with my hands: ---coloring/playdoh/house cleaning
Exercise
Singing/dancing
Support:
But probably the biggest thing was support. Someone to call in the middle of the night, CF helped a lot in my teen years, but you have to be careful with internet saftey...just being loved
Praying through it
I could never read in those moments. Sort of like a "fake it till you make it thing". Funny memes, uplifting music videos.
End of list, start at the top again.
I don't know if it always has an underlying cause. Mine stemmed from my past, but I know a lot of kids and teens just have a hard time dealing with big emotions. Whatever the case,
@lilygrace keep up the good fight. And big thing is drawing closer to God. That was the biggest/truest thing that helped me overcome this.