Dealing with Trauma

by Pastor Mark Cowart

The traumas, the hurts, and losses you have experienced do not have to ruin the rest of your life. It is rather a paradox, but we see at this “most wonderful time of the year”, the holidays, an increase in depression and even suicide, because people’s old hurts bring up deep pain and sadness. I know that God’s Word has remedies for this, and I want to share some with you so that you can apply them to your life and share them with others.

First of all, we know that Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. We know this because He tells us so in both the Old and the New Testaments. His Word says He is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. We know that we can choose to put on a “garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”.

That doesn’t mean to “stuff it”. That does not mean to simply “cope”. There is real healing available to the believer in Jesus Christ. As His body, we in the church need to be equipped to help, to truly lead individuals to His provisions to root out the trauma responses in their hearts.

When someone “pushes your buttons”, they activate stored , pressurized “grief energy” that is triggered somehow. This obvious indicator of woundedness from emotional injury should be heeded and addressed. When we don’t explore the root cause of our behaviors, we invite further complications into our lives.

For example, codependency can develop in a person’s life who has trauma wounds not yet healed. They will gravitate to irresponsible people whom they can “take care of”, people who are unavailable emotionally and untrustworthy. Much destruction (and more trauma) can come into their lives through these relationships. They must break the cycle.

To get free of the effects of past trauma, we must realize that what affects us more than what happened is the lie that got inserted into our thinking with what happened. The Word of God is truth, and it will set you free. When that happens for a person, they are often better off than if the abuse had never happened to them. Choosing to forgive can be the beginning of a breakthrough in your understanding.

In the meantime, until you get healed of all your wounds, you don’t have to be an emotional cripple. You can choose happiness. Every day, you have the choice to believe God’s Word that there is a hope and a future for you. Find the help you need to work through all the lingering hurts in your past. You can dismantle every lie that the enemy has sown into you. You can be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Things meant by the devil to crush you can become stepping stones. In the Scriptures, anointing came with oil which came from breaking the flesh of olives. Similarly, you can rise to new levels of spiritual authority when you realize your pain can be used in God’s redemptive plan for your life and you are able to overcome the effects of trauma.

There is healing for you during this holiday season. Look around you as well for ways to help someone, to lift someone up, to invite them in and trust God to lead you to complete freedom.

DIVE DEEPER
• Isaiah 61:3
• Psalm 119:165
• Psalm 34:18
• Genesis 50:20
• Romans 8:28
• Luke 4:18-19
• Matthew 11:28
• John 16:13

REFLECT
1) Can you think of a particular person or situation that causes you to react in pain?
2) Have you thought about what the root of that behavior might be?
3) Have you sought help (friend, family or professional) to explore your memories and emotions to dismantle the lies your younger self may have accepted as truth.
4) Can you believe that God cares about your mental health and will guide you to the help you need?

PRAY
– Thank God for all your blessings right now.
– Ask Him to use you as his carrier of love to brokenhearted people around you.
– Ask Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth regarding traumatic situations in your life that have wounded you, to set you free from the lies you have believed.