Often we condemn ourselves for pain in our past or present. We feel guilty for not getting over it more quickly. We assume someone else would have handled it better. But trauma will remain empowered to hurt us as long as we deny its existence. The truth is, you aren’t failing at healing. You’re finding healing. God is a God of restoration. And this is just the beginning.Baker Publishing
Day 1
Scriptures: Isaiah 43:18-19, Zechariah 9:12, Revelation 21:5
Prisoners of Hope
Trauma is subjective. If you feel as if what you went through was traumatic, it probably was. However, if you feel that your experience wasn’t traumatic, you may or may not be correct because trauma is tricky. It hides in the dark and trips us up when we least expect it. It tries to convince us that what we experienced was normal and to minimize it while stacking itself up against someone else who “had it worse.”
By its simplest definition, trauma is a deeply disturbing experience or series of experiences. If you have been abused (mentally, physically, spiritually, or sexually), been neglected, lost a loved one, survived an assault or natural disaster, or even lived in close proximity to someone who has experienced trauma—you have experienced trauma.
The first step in healing trauma is acknowledging its existence. We have to come to grips with the reality that what we experienced wasn’t normal. When we dismiss or excuse our trauma as simply a regular part of life, we deny its impact on us. We end up looking for remedies rather than getting to the roots of the problem.
All around the world, God is redeeming what seems irredeemable: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Revelation 21:5). Notice that God says he is making all things new, not that he is making all new things. God’s innate reaction to brokenness is restoration.
Healing from trauma probably won’t bring you back to your pre-traumatized self because the scars will always be there. But the scars will remind you of what you’ve overcome. Someday, they will be a powerful testimony to others of what God has done in your life. There’s beauty in this kind of renewal. There’s richness in things that have been truly restored rather than cosmetically dressed up. In Zechariah, we read that we are “prisoners of hope” because God promises to restore what we have lost.
God knows exactly which parts of you are wounded and what will be required in order for them to heal. He has restored millions of wounded minds, bodies, and souls throughout history, and he is paying special attention to your wounds right now. He is preparing them for healing.
In what ways does your life feel broken right now?
Day 2
Scriptures: John 10:10, John 16:22-24
An Abundant-Life Mindset
Relief from trauma doesn’t come by pursuing relief. It comes by pursuing an abundant life. Abundant living focuses on the uncreated, incorruptible, indestructible, eternal life found in God.
Pursuing an abundant life isn’t about claiming a promise of health or wealth. It is about finding purpose and meaning in the life God has given you. It is about discovering a life worth living in the one you already have, as beaten-up and bruised as it may appear.
An abundant-life mindset recognizes that no relationship, hobby, drug, or drink will truly satisfy. It knows that, as Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” Later in John, Jesus tells his disciples that only in him will their joy be complete (see John 16:22-24).
An abundant-life mindset exposes the thieves that seek to steal our joy and thwart our purpose. Figuratively speaking, thieves are painkillers that claim to offer relief but don’t deliver. They are like false teachers and charlatans. Rather than give, they manipulate and steal. Rather than build up, they destroy. They’ll take your money, time, freedom, love, and energy and then sneak out the back door in the middle of the night. They offer you an anvil when you’re frantically searching for a parachute.
Jesus says that these con artists ultimately bring death, not life.
Rather than chasing a feeling of temporary relief, people with an abundant-life mindset focus on the endless opportunities available to them, in spite of their past trauma. When you stop running, you slow down long enough to let yourself thaw from the freeze response and rediscover a life worth living. And let us tell you, life is worth living after trauma.
Possibilities are open to you, even now, while you are still suffering. Even now, relief is available to you while you are still struggling. Your future is too valuable, too powerful, and too important for you to miss out on it by running and numbing. Abundant life awaits.
How have you tried to outrun the effects of trauma in your life? What was the result?
Day 3
Scriptures: Proverbs 16:18, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, 1 Peter 5:6-7
Strength in Weakness
Depending on the context of your painful experience, your instinct may be to push back against those offering help. But you can’t win the war against trauma on your own. The enemy is too strong and too clever. The only hope you have is to let humility lead you to healing. It seems contrary to reason, but strength is found in acknowledging our weaknesses.
Paul, an early Christian leader, knew this well. He experienced all kinds of hardship and trauma. This dude was beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked, all while being on the most wanted lists of the Gentiles and the Jews at the same time! He was a tough guy. No one would challenge that. Yet he didn’t boast about his strength and fortitude but rather about his weakness.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, Paul writes:
But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Despite all he had been through, Paul recognized that he only stood a fighting chance if he let his guard down.
Humility invites others to help us. Pride pushes them away. Humility permits God to enter into our pain. Pride says, “I can do it alone.” Humility listens to wise counsel. Pride rejects the advice of others. Humility leads to healing. Pride leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18).
The humility required to heal from trauma is a risks/rewards scenario. You have to be willing to put yourself in others’ hands—to entrust them with your story—in order to build the loving relationships and community you’ll need to heal. It’s not easy, and it’s the total opposite of what your brain may tell you to do, but you can’t skip this step. Openness and vulnerability are what your heart needs in order to heal.
How, if at all, do you see pride as a barrier to your healing? What is one action you could take this week that would foster humility and vulnerability?
Day 4
Scriptures: John 14:26-27, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:6-7
God Can Handle Our Emotions
Emotions are like the check-engine light on a car. They don’t tell us exactly what’s wrong, but they alert us that something under the hood needs our attention.
As we’re healing from trauma, it’s important to recognize what we are feeling, but we need to remember that emotions don’t tell the whole story—and they don’t always tell the truth. For example:
- You may feel like no one cares about you. That’s a lie.
- You may feel like God has abandoned you. He hasn’t.
- You may feel like you aren’t going to make it through this trial. You will.
The truth is, emotions are not indicative of the presence of God in our situation. Sometimes when we’re happy, we say that we feel God’s presence. Other times, we feel his presence when we weep. But we can be sure of God’s presence even when we can’t feel him. That’s because God’s presence isn’t a feeling; it’s a fact.
Whether or not you feel close to God right now, he’s close to you. He longs for you to experience his uninterrupted presence. Jesus spoke of this gift to his followers on the eve of his death:
“But the Advocate [Counselor], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:26–27).
A counselor, a teacher, one who brings peace—doesn’t this sound like someone we need when strong emotions overwhelm us?
Feeling strong emotions isn’t indicative of a lack of faith. Jesus felt strong emotions, and no one would doubt his faith! God can take it when we feel desperate, furious, terrified, or overwhelmed. He wants us to bring the emotions to him and to let his Holy Spirit point us to the source of the emotions so that they can be healed (Philippians 4:6–7; 1 Peter 5:6–7).
It isn’t about controlling our emotions; it’s about engaging them and allowing God to teach us through them. Our feelings can lie to us, but God will always tell us the truth.
What is one fact you can cling to when your emotions threaten to lead you into hopelessness?
Day 5
Scriptures: Romans 5:3-5, Ephesians 3:20, James 1:2-4
Holding On to Hope
God doesn’t operate as humans do. He uses the foolish to shame the wise. He makes a no-name shepherd into a king. He lets the last go first. He prays for his enemies. He turns the other cheek. He overcomes evil with good. He defeats death itself by submitting himself to death. And he births hope out of suffering.
“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3–5
Check out the formula this passage gives us: suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. Of all the ways we’d expect hope to be produced, I’m betting suffering wouldn’t have been at the top of the list. And yet, here we see that it is the unlikely place where hope, the rarest of treasures, is actually found.
We all know there are no quick fixes to trauma. It’s going to take patience and grit but do. not. give. up. James, Jesus’s brother, writes,
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4).
What does he mean by “let perseverance finish its work”? I’m inclined to believe that he meant something like this: Don’t give up when you’re already partway there. Don’t let it all be for nothing.
Yes, the pain is awful, but if you keep moving forward, it will mean something someday. Somehow, this terrible experience will be recycled for something good even though it doesn’t make sense right now.
Don’t give up. Keep holding on to hope because God is faithful to provide it and because you are not alone in the struggle. Trauma may have been what brought you here, but soon enough, God’s redemptive love for you will take you to places so rich with joy and purpose you can’t even imagine them yet!
What do you hope for? What would make this painful journey worth it? Looking ahead, what in your life will help you hold on to hope?