Freud Meets Jesus 2-3

Over these last weeks we’ve examined trauma, but we’ve also seen God offers peace over trauma. So just how do we recover from trauma? The most important thing to remember is recovering from trauma takes time. We must be patient with ourselves; the process is often slow, and recovery doesn’t happen overnight. It is important to go deep, take the time needed to fully recover.

The first principle in recovering from trauma is accepting help and support from others. It is nearly impossible to recover on your own. Going back to the story of Tamar, in 2 Samuel 13, we see Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house after her assault at the hands of Amnon. God created us to need each other, and often a good place to start is with someone who has been through what you are going through. Second Corinthians 1:4 tells us, “God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others.” Seek out family members or spiritual family members who can help and accept their support.

The second principle of trauma recovery is the necessity of focusing on truth, not on what you feel. When you are traumatized, your emotions can get disconnected or distorted. When we disconnect from our emotions, we stop feeling because of the pain we’re experiencing. When our emotions get distorted, we often believe lies. The Apostle Paul in Second Corinthians 1:8–9 offers us a better approach: “We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we’d never live through it. We expected to die. We learned not to trust in our own feelings and ourselves but to trust in God.” Paul thought they were going to die, but his feelings were wrong. Often trauma victims end up blaming themselves, saying it was their fault, or they deserved what happened, but that is not true!

The antidote is found in the words of Jesus in John 8:32, “…the truth will set you free.” The truth is, if we have been traumatized, we need to listen to the truth: the trauma is not our fault, the trauma is not our identity, and the trauma is not our future. This week let’s commit this truth to heart, asking God to help us realize whatever trauma we have experienced is not our fault, not our identity, and not our future.