The Impact of Trauma

The first time that someone looked into my teary eyes and told me that I needed care because I had been impacted by trauma, I had no idea what he was talking about. This wise and insightful friend saw that the pain of our current church hurt was not the only pain that I was carrying.  My deep fears of speaking up, of naming that we had been deeply wronged, of using my voice, had developed inside of me long ago, in a home where silence was safest.  

And so with a skilled coach,  I started a very risky and life altering journey into my own history.  And what I discovered changed my life in the most unexpected and remarkable ways.  That is why I do this work.  That is why I love this work.  When the Psalmist cries out in Psalm 103 that God redeems his life from the pit (the NLT version says, redeems me from death), he isn’t just speaking about salvation and heaven.  There is the possibility of new life here for you.  Death can look like having no voice. It can take the shape of debilitating anxiety or panic attacks.  It can feel like a blanket of depression.  It is trauma’s impact on our lives that we may be unknowingly carrying around.  God wants to bring us from death to life, not just in eternity, but in our bodies, here and now. 

First, we must begin to understand the vast and deep impact of trauma in our lives.  Dan Allender says that trauma is any violation of our human dignity, of our personhood.  And since we live in a fallen world, everyone experiences this in some way or another.  From school to friends to family to church, no one growing up on this side of heaven escapes this harm.  When you were belittled, excluded, mocked, ignored, used or hurt, was there someone who lovingly comforted and cared for you so that you did not have to bear it alone?  If not, your body may have absorbed the violation as trauma.  It may be carrying it still. 

The impact of trauma is vast.  It looks like low self-esteem, insomnia, rage, hypervigilance, disconnection, difficulty in relationships, people pleasing, lack of trust, and so much more.  God made your mind and your body to heal. Narrative focused trauma care (storywork) provides the opportunity to go back into those tender stories of harm and receive the comfort and care that your young heart needed but never got.  It opens up the possibility of healing, of new life.  It did for me.  It can for you.