Here is what you may not know about traumatized people. People that carry hurts and traumas that haven’t quite been healed yet live in a world that can be all-encompassing. It’s not that they want to, it sometimes just becomes part of the journey.

God has taken me down a path not just to heal some things but to teach me lessons as well. One of the biggest things is that most people will not understand. They will not be able to empathize or “get” you. As one starts to go down the journey of healing they start to see all the things that their body has unconsciously done to protect itself. They learn that their “feelings” and emotions have true purpose and meaning. How the body has responded to trauma is different for many but at the same time very similar.

Our subconscious is also our soul, and these traumas have created wounds to that soul. We are tripartite beings. ”May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.“ 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV… These wounds that the soul carries can create a restless spirit. When you start to look at yourself and realize that you can’t sit still, you can’t have quiet, you have to please or do something for someone, you cannot be bored, you feel a low buzzing in your body, and don’t know why, you hear something from someone and it triggers an emotion, senses of smell and hearing are heightened to where things annoy you, and more, you start to see it and understand. Before I go further, it’s NOT your fault. Remember that.

When you can look back at a childhood and see the generations of broken families by divorce, kids born out of wedlock, and broken relationships, you can see the breeding grounds for trauma and pain. You can see and understand why people do so many things to just calm that restless hurt soul even if it’s just for a few moments. We reach for a salve that will allow us to just be free from it because it’s exhausting and painful. People that haven’t experienced this will not get it. It’s actually pointless to share because you’ll never feel heard or seen and that actually adds to the wound. You’ll need to find others like you that can empathize and know what you’re feeling. God will provide you with them, just ask, or in most cases he already has you just need to look around your circle.

If you ever wonder why people get addicted to tobacco, vaping, drinking, drugs, sex, pornography, gambling, shopping, eating, working, etc, anything that releases an excess of dopamine, it’s easy because most people(myself included) are walking around with unhealed traumas that present themselves in different ways. Nobody just wakes up and randomly says, “You know what, I think I’ll become a drug addict today.”

I’ll never forget one of my “ahha” moments. I was having really bad anxiety. It was different that day though. I called a friend to help me talk through it, and I remember saying, “It’s the weirdest thing, it’s like my body is buzzing trying to tell my mind that something is wrong but my mind is fighting back telling it to ignore it.” It was like a total out-of-body experience. Eventually, my body settled and the anxiety stopped, but I remember that’s the day it hit me and it was all starting to make sense. God was putting pieces of the puzzle together.

You see my friend has never experienced anxiety, and like I said before, couldn’t understand. In fact, in their mind, anxiety was a choice, because the Bible tells us a bazillion times, “Do not be anxious…” Whereas that is true, it’s also an example of possible over-spiritualization. That’s a big problem in the church, but that’s a different conversation for a different time. To be fair it could also simply be that there is a difference between being anxious in a healthy way vs anxiousness from a broken fight, flight, or freeze nervous system. In either instance, we are instructed what to do in prayer, ”Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Jesus is ultimately the great healer and I believe that with all my heart. He also loves to use people to heal in different ways as you’ll see more evidence later, but right here He tells us to use other people, ”Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.“ James 5:16 NIV… See how He uses people? Not to forgive sins(no man can do this), but to HEAL from sins(missing the mark that God has for us). God is imaginative to beyond our capabilities as well as supremely understanding. He works however He wants to not how we think something should be done.

You see from the moment we are born, even before that as we are in our mother’s womb there is an enemy that is against us. ”Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.“ 1 Peter 5:8 NIV… He is trying to create chaos  in one’s life at all times. Do not despair, God overcomes the enemy and he will flee at the simple mention of His name. But be assured he is prowling around looking to steal, kill, and destroy. He’s not afraid of playing the long game either with just a little enticement here and there to pull someone away from the Lord and what He has for them. You were born with a purpose, a calling, something specific to only you. If you just pause for a moment and think… Ask yourself, better yet, ask God, “What is my purpose Lord? What am I here to do for you?”… Be quiet and still, wait on Him in the stillness and you just might hear.

God didn’t think of you, design you specially, and have a purpose for you just to be born, work, seek pleasure, and die. No no no! There is such a greater plan! ”For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. Psalms 139:13-18 NIV

This greater plan is what the enemy wants to thwart at all costs. What better way than attack and wreak havoc in families and young peoples lives. Trauma comes from many things, some times it’s just a result of this broken and fallen world. ”To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”“ Genesis 3:17-19 NIV

You see this wasn’t God’s original plan at all. It was far different until disobedience or “sin” entered the world. What God created was perfection. ”God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31 NIV… There was a world that was perfect. Man was completely unified with God. There was no such thing as pain, anxiety, disease, sadness, anger, or any kind of flaw or brokenness. I know it’s so hard to wrap our heads around because it’s all we know and see on the daily. But that’s where we are, dealing with all of the brokenness, and trauma is a huge part of that.

So back to our soul. Our souls carry the wounds created by the trauma that affects our body and mind. The body and mind are connected. Even neuroscience has come to say that they work in unison to navigate an ever changing world. Look, I’m not pretending I know exactly how all this works, I just know it comes from people smarter than I, as well as the Lord sharing with me. Our mind affects our body and our body affects our mind. That’s why to start the healing process of anything, we have to renew our minds after we have decided to give our lives to follow Jesus. Paul tells us, ”Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.“ Romans 12:2 NIV… We are transformed by his word as it creates new neural pathways.

Some people will say once you have given your life to Jesus Christ you are saved and become a new creation, ”Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!“ 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV… So yes as they are not wrong once you’ve given your life over to the Lord, and have confessed your faith to him, you are a new creation and are sealed to Him, ”And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.“ Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV… But, just because you’re saved and a new creation it doesn’t mean you’re free. As in everything is now perfect in your life. You are born again of the spirit, but your soul still has wounds that need tended to. Especially if you’ve spent most of your life living apart from God in an ungodly lifestyle.

I will say it again though, do not despair! You have Jesus to heal and guide you! The Holy Spirit is your advocate, counselor, comforter, and will be with you always as you journey through your healing process. We will never be perfect this side of heaven. It won’t be until then, or when Jesus comes back and makes us whole. So as you journey through your time here on earth remember to give people grace and patience. Try and see them like Jesus does. This includes ourselves. Give Grace and patience and when we trip up we must remember that there is still a beautiful soul created by the God who loves every part of us, that is still healing.

We are loved despite of our hurts, traumas, and shortcomings. We are loved deeper than we can sometimes feel because of them. We may have a hard time letting people close or in because of it all, and it’s OK to tell people that. We are a beautiful work in progress that love and do life to the best of our abilities at any given moment. We never want anyone to feel or go through what we’ve endured or are currently enduring. We want to be healed terribly, but it’s not in our time.

We must do the work though. We must meet God and follow his guidance to the healing. Some things He will just heal, but some He will guide to a doctor, to a medicine, to a machine, to whatever He wants to use for our healing and His Glory. All things, healing included is for His glory, ”And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.“ Colossians 3:17 NIV

We have to believe in the healing power of Jesus. We have to believe that He can do anything, that he will do anything, and thank Him in advance for answering the requests through prayer, ”Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.“ Mark 11:24 NIV

It’s my honest and humble opinion that if we as the church focused more on soul healing, and helping others make it a priority in their own life, people would be shouting from the rooftops about Jesus and disciple making would flourish in turn growing the kingdom. I’ve never seen sick and hurting humans praise much of anything. I know ultimately it’s about praising God in the storms and trials. But show me a healed person and they’ll tell everyone and praise the Lord doing it! We have more power than we think as Christians. ”Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.“ Acts 3:6-10 NIV

God may heal you of all your ailments, or He may not. He may heal you quickly or take you on a long healing journey because He’s got lessons to teach others and you. He may leave you with a thorn like he did Paul here, ”or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.“ 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 NIV… The thing we must rest in is like Paul, whatever our “thorn” might be at any given time, God’s grace is sufficient for us as His power is shown brightly through our weaknesses which glorifies Him.

My friend didn’t quite understand my anxiety because they couldn’t experience it, and only had what others have said along with what the Bible said to go off of. I’m not upset anymore, or sad, because God helped me find people that did and I felt heard, I felt seen. However even though they couldn’t understand, God used them to show me so much more. They were used as a mirror to my wounded soul to expose what needed healing. He gives us each other in this world to help navigate it, so be patient, be kind, and learn from each other. There are no “chance” meetings. It’s a journey full of peaks and valleys, ebbs and flows.

I am closing, no matter what, in any hurt, struggle, trial, or trauma we must remember Job’s conviction, ”In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job 1:22 NIV… God is good all the time, then, now, and forever.

We can all ultimately rest in this, especially the first sentence… Read it twice and include your name after the “I”.

”The Lord is my shepherd, I,(   ), lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.“ Psalms 23:1-6 NIV