By Jerrica KF Ching

Healing comes in many different forms, covering many aspects of our life.  Healing can be for physical ailment, emotional turmoil, or spiritual renewal.  I believe there are many of us who, amidst an ongoing global pandemic, have been hoping, praying, and seeking healing in all areas of our lives. 

Healing often involves many steps; just as when we need to disinfect an injury by removing debris, applying disinfectant, and then applying a bandage, we are often instructed to rest.  Rest can be extremely difficult for many but is notably even more difficult right now.  How do we, as a people of this world at a time of confusion, learn to rest?  What does rest even look like for many of us now?  In addition to a global pandemic, we as the Asian American community have also been faced with such overt and quite honestly sickening racism, that it is hard to imagine that part of healing involves rest. 

Reading countless news articles, or blurbs on social media for another member of our community being physically or verbally attacked is heartbreaking and is accompanied by a slew of emotions.  I find my emotions vacillating between anger, sadness, apathy, and shock.  There have been major movements towards recognition, acknowledgment, and accountability.  I stand with every one of those efforts being made to ensure that our voice is heard, and I am also incredibly tired. 

So how do we move into healing from here?  Is it even the right time to move into healing?  How do we undo so much hurt within our community that has been built upon years and years of stereotypes and suppression?  How do we have conversations with those in more privileged areas?  The list of questions that I can fathom is endless – so much so to the point that there are days when I need to put my phone in another room and intentionally not scroll through social media.  It is a situation in which I cannot believe what is happening that it’s so painful to hear, yet so difficult to turn away from.

In moments of confusion at its highest capacity, I surrender all of that to God.  Perhaps this act of surrendering – of knowing that there is no way that I could answer all those questions, nor can I handle all of those emotions all at once – that I am stepping into rest.  Healing does not have to be linear either.  Sometimes healing can feel like more pain and more uncertainty.  But to learn to surrender to the One who knows all, the one who has a plan for us as a community and all of us on an individual level — that is to rest, and that is to heal.

Jerrica KF Ching grew up on the island of Oahu, Hawaii and currently lives in the beautiful state of Washington, working as a licensed mental health counselor and Asian/Pacific Islander mental health specialist at Columbia Wellness. She graduated with an MA in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling from George Fox University, where she is now an adjunct professor and supervisor. She finds joy in sharing her compassion with students on the importance of recognizing and acknowledging racial and cultural differences in others. Her research on racial colorblindness has been published in The International Journal of Social Science Studies.