Trauma!
(part one of four – the body)
Today’s piece begins a four part series about trauma that may happen in our lives and how to deal with it. Those that go through traumatic experiences may take a long time to get over, or rather to get through it. Today, we will deal with trauma to the body. In the following weeks, we will cover trauma to the mind, emotions (spirit), and soul. A traumatic experience can affect any or all of these areas, and they all affect each other.
Trauma is sudden. It is unexpected. It is unplanned for. In some cases, it can be prevented, which would be the best scenario. (If you can avoid being in the most dangerous part of town, alone, and at night, then by all means do. If you are an alcoholic, staying away from the liquor store would prevent the tragedy of falling off the wagon. The resulting trauma could be prevented.) But we don’t always have a choice. Life comes at us full force and may blindside us. Then we have to deal with it. Trauma can bring us to a halt, and we often don’t know what to do. How can we? We didn’t have time to think it through. We couldn’t process it ahead of time, because we didn’t expect it.
When an assult happens on the body, whatever the cause, it needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. We may need medical attention, or practical help getting things done. We may also need financial help, because physical trauma can be expensive to fix. Of course, when the body is traumatized, this consumes our mind and suppresses our spirit. Trauma is overwhelming.
When we are overwhelmed, we need to remember that we do have a God, the one true God, our creator, who is available and ready to listen to our cries. We can pour our heart out to Him. This is one way to vent, to get the stress out of the body, mind, and spirit. When trauma is stuffed down into our soul, we need to start to let it out. It is so easy to get stuck, to think there is nothing we can do about anything – but we do have a choice. We can make the decision to call on God and ask for His help. At least that’s a step.
I know there are times when even that is not possible. Our mind can’t function enough to find words that will say how we feel. At that point, I believe we still have two choices. One is to simply take a slow, deep breath, let it out, and speak the name of Jesus. Maybe even repeat this process. Getting our mind on Jesus can help us gain the strength to deal with the trauma. Barring that, just open your mouth and look up to Heaven. I say that based on Ps. 81:10 – “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (ESV)
A prayer for the reader: “Lord Jesus, come. Please heal broken bodies, minds, and spirits. In Your name. Amen.”
Assault on the mind can come from within, with struggles over thoughts, doubts, obsessions, compulsions, or it can come from others. As kids, others sometimes ) remind us of what we can’t do mentally. I was told in high school that I was not allowed to take algebra, since I would flunk it. Nice. Of course, Beethoven was once told by one of his teachers that he would never amount to anything. I think they got that wrong. Mental struggles, over time especially, can be very traumatic and stressful. The enemy of our soul, Satan, wants to bring us down in every way possible. Jesus wants to build us up and strengthen us.
We are told to build one and encourage one another up emotionally too. When people are attacked physically, mentally, or spiritually, they need built up. They need encouraged. Telling people they are no good, they will never learn, that they should be more like their brother or sister. This type of trauma tries to stop us in our tracks, and often does – but it does not have to. We definitely need Jesus to help to get us through these traumatic experiences and I pray that we at least have someone to talk to when we are hurting. I am here. Others are too.
There is a fourth trauma that I mentioned earlier, and here it is. It is a trauma of the soul. That’s right. I’m talking about your eternal soul, the one that will stand before Jesus one day, either with His open arms and rewards for you, or a “sorry, I never knew you.” That one is for unbelievers, for those that don’t know Jesus, that have thought all along that they were good enough to make it to Heaven, or that just wanted to try to do things their own way. Good people, that’s not going to work. We need Jesus to help us with our body, our mind, our emotions, and our eternal soul. Jesus came to bring wholeness to all of us and to give us eternal life. Have you received it? That’s one trauma that can be avoided. Just ask. Submit your soul, and your cares, to Jesus, because He cares for you.