Trauma has a way of keeping record of our suffering and tallying them in our hearts for easy access later. It’s not a good thing that our bodies do that. It’s more like survival.
These tallies keeps us captive to hard memories and at any point they can be activated and drug right out in the open before we even suspect a thing.
We usually can’t see the darkness closing in until it’s unraveled all around us and we are left stuck in its shadow.
Trauma creates fear and anxiety that can be a lifelong battle. It changes peoples brains and activates survival mode in just a moment. A word, a feeling, a memory and it all comes back to us.
Life often has twists and turns we are not prepared to navigate. We often find ourselves in distressing circumstances that can leave us feeling turned upside down.
For this I don’t have an answer.
But I have the desire to live beyond the tragedies I’ve faced. I work hard to live in the present moments yet honor my pain when it surfaces. Sometimes it takes me back to hard places and there are times I can grow from that. Other times it feels like it hijacks my emotions and I find myself in distress and I can’t just find my way out real quick.
I have to fight. I struggle to allow my past to empower me and make me stronger rather than just feeling weak.
It’s an uphill battle, one I wouldn’t wish on anyone, yet we’ve all in one way or another fell prey to its demands. It doesn’t discriminate. Whether it be in our own lives or the lives of those we love, we’ve all been touched by tragedy.
Everyone who’s endured trauma deserves to be heard. To lay themselves wide open and be seen.
The best thing we can do for those who are experiencing the effects of trauma is to hold space with them. Don’t avoid them. Speak truth to them. Bear them up with your support. Allow them to be where they are and don’t try to change them. The last thing they need is to feel shame about where they are at. It’s damaging to rush them beyond when the light hasn’t yet risen for them. Darkness comes and goes. We don’t need to try to move people out of where they are. Being supported in those times will give way to healing. Being pushed to get over it and move beyond it can hold us hostage in the pain. We want to find our way out. We long to be free.
Responses to trauma creep up when it’s least expected and is relentless in its attempts to be heard. It deserves respect for its efforts to change us.
Trauma causes people to withstand a lot of dark feelings. Eventually the light rises up and the darkness goes away for a time and we can see again but it’s often a lifelong battle of finding our footing and allowing healing to take place along the journey.
Jesus modeled this so well. He came as a human baby, he grew to endure much pain and rejection. He endured traumatic events. He felt forsaken. He begged for mercy. He wouldn’t deny us the ability to navigate or tragedies when He himself honored His own. He wept for Lazarus, He had conflicting emotions at the garden of gethsemane. He even felt overwhelmed to the point of death. He endured the trauma of the cross, feeling abandoned. He knows trauma and He knows disappointment. He never denied Himself the journey.
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