When our hearts are hurting, and we’ve endured the unimaginable, it's tempting to turn to worldly things to ease our pain. These numbing devices can include alcohol, drugs – including pharmaceutical drugs, pornography, sex, shopping, eating excessive amounts of foods that are harmful to our bodies, over-exercising, overworking, oversleeping, and the list goes on and on. All can lead to dangerous addictions. When we pour ourselves into these types of things to ease our pain and suffering, the relief is short-lived. Choose to turn to the only one who truly knows our suffering and the only one who can heal us through it.
What Does the Bible Say about Trauma?
There are a lot of different kinds of trauma and tragedy that leave us broken and unrecognizable to ourselves and often to those around us. Our tragedy can happen in an instant, leaving us in shock and disbelief. These moments cause an unexpected change in our lives, and they certainly derail the expectations of what we thought our beautiful life would look like. We are left with the aftermath of emotions - heartache, pain, suffering, and often emotional and physical responses, including depression and illness. We may often re-live these tragic events over and over in our minds, further torturing ourselves and making it difficult to concentrate, be productive, be present with those we love, and even cause difficulty making important life decisions. Enduring trauma and tragedy can often lead us into isolation as a way of self-preservation.
We are not meant to rely on this world, where we can get stuck in our hurt, continually re-living the trauma. It can leave us stuck, where we can’t get out of bed, find motivation, or stop scrolling social media. The pain and exhaustion can seem to keep piling on. We can feel as if we have physical weights holding us down and drowning us in this place of brokenness, sadness, and overwhelm. But the Bible gives us a promise.
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." - Psalm 34:18
What if there was another way? What if we didn’t have to stay stuck in this torment? What if we could find hope and healing? In Revelation 21:4, we are given another beautiful promise:
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
This passage doesn’t promise we won’t endure hard things in this life. Jesus tells us that we will suffer hard and painful moments. (John 16:33) We can take the hand of Jesus and come to him. He can bring us to a new place of hope and healing where we know we are not alone and can begin our healing journey with Jesus beside us, guiding and loving us the whole way.
Jesus Understands Our Pain
Jesus has endured it all. He is familiar with hurt, destruction, and suffering. Jesus was betrayed by his closest friends, the government, and even the church. He was persecuted, judged, beaten, tortured and broken. He was spat on, laughed at, and mocked. Jesus knows suffering and is no stranger to all the hurt we will or have endured. He extends empathy towards what we’re going through and offers an incredible invitation to help us with our hope and healing. The blood of Jesus can heal our brokenness. He invites us to bring all our pain and suffering to him at the foot of the cross. Jesus extends an invitation to us in Matthew 11:28-30,
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
He’s not asking us to be healed and whole or figure it out before we go to him. We can come as we are: broken, hurting, angry, and sad. We can find rest, hope, healing, true peace, and comfort when we're suffering from trauma and tragedy. He can wipe away every tear when we allow him to wrap his arms around us to help ease our mourning, crying, and pain. We can learn who God says we are and let Him mold us back together to make us new. In Jeremiah 18:5-6 we read,
“Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”
In these verses, God reminds us we are in His hands. Whether your brokenness is in pieces or you’re broken to dust, He can and will put you back together if you let Him. He gives us the choice. Jesus calls out to us,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30
3 Ways to Find Comfort in Trauma and Tragedy
1. Prayer
Come to Jesus through prayer. Create time and space to pray to the Father. Be completely present, vulnerable, and honest without restrictions on time or availability. We are told to pray continuously. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 What a beautiful way to move through the day! This is our time to be all in and to give our Father all of us.
2. Journaling
Start with prayer. Ask Jesus to be with you during the exercise. Pick only one thing or event each time. Asking Jesus to reveal and heal the trauma or tragedy. Remember, Jesus is always right there with us. Write everything! This is only between you and God; He needs all of you, not just the parts that are easy to show Him. Write everything that comes up. Be vulnerable and raw. Work through feelings, memories, wrongs done to you, and wrongs you’ve done to others. Write where you need to forgive others, yourself, and even God. There is healing in the writing. The words will flow quickly at first and eventually slowly. When this happens, ask the Holy Spirit to show you more surrounding the situation. I like to ask, “What else?” and then sit and wait. More will come. Repeat until nothing more comes to your mind.
I often do journaling exercises as part of my healing process. I have a notebook that I use for this specific purpose. However, I do not save these particular journal entries. I shred them when I am done. It’s definitely therapeutic to release the past and move forward into the present. Some like to save them to look back at the writing and see how far they’ve come. I think this is a great idea with other forms of journalling entries, but I don’t recommend re-living trauma and suffering. After all, we are here to leave it all at the cross to move forward.
3. Gratitude
Once you have reached quietness after the purge, finish up your writing by focusing on gratitude. This is a really important step. Please don’t skip this.
"Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Write all of the things that you’re grateful for in this moment. Write everything that comes to mind. The Holy Spirit always guides. Let your heart feel the love of Jesus and fill up every part of your body and soul. Feel his love fill every part of you. Now is the time to rejoice in the love, the hope, and the healing of Jesus.
Jesus is our hope. He is our healing. He is where our joy comes from. Friend, we are not meant to carry our hurts weighing us down. The weight on your shoulders is not necessary and ultimately brings you to a choice. Jesus wants to take our hurting from us so we can be put back together and made new. Something is amazing on the other side.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Kamonwan Wankaew
