The Power of Transformation After Trauma
By: Shelley K Johnson
Tags: Abuse, Domestic Violence, Trauma Recovery, Women, Domestic Abuse

The Power of Transformation After Trauma

There are many parents who are not very mindful of the effect they have on their kids. There are many mothers who say to their daughters, “I wish I never had you.” There are many fathers who constantly say to their sons, “You’re a disappointment and an embarrassment to me.”

Maybe they’re frustrated. Who hasn’t been? Maybe they’re grumpy, a lot of parents work round the clock just to put food on the table. But these traumatic words often just thrown out there casually, sometimes even intended as a joke, hits hard and it hits different people in different ways.

The sad truth is this trauma makes people feel worthless, less loved, or totally unloved. They feel insecure because if the man who is supposed to be your protector and provider says that you’re an idiot or worthless and won’t amount to anything, what kind of protection are you feeling?

It’s not enough to be provided for materially. Mothers and fathers should also provide for their children emotionally. They feel stripped and defenseless. It’s no wonder that a lot of people find comfort in addiction, destructive behaviors, suicidal thoughts. Even those who are called “functional” feel numb, disconnected, and distrustful.

Real Healing Can Only Come from the Holy Spirit

When you choose to truly receive God by reading His word, you will truly start listening to Him. As Apostle Paul said, “Faith comes through hearing.” Do you really listen to God when you read the Bible? Because oftentimes when we read the Bible, we look for things we want to see; we look for things that are familiar.

We look for messages that resonate with us because they’re the messages we want to hear. But the truth is, God speaks to our trauma and does so in such a way that pushes us to stop coddling our trauma. Let’s be completely honest with each other, when you think about traumatic events in your life, do you put a nice little boundary around it? Do you define it in such a way that you can make it day to day?

This is how people cope. At some level, this is very understandable but at the same time, this is the reason a lot of prisoners do not get past their trauma. They cannot move on. God wants a better life for you and the way to do this is to trust Him fully and receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

And with that power, you can confront a lot of memories and emotional habits that may not be all that positive in your life. It takes guts courtesy of the Holy Spirit to confront these memories.

Did they really happen or are you exaggerating them? Are you reading into them all sorts of meaning that they normally wouldn’t contain? Is your memory a commentary of your frustrations today instead of a factual reflection of the things that happened in the past?

I know these are uncomfortable questions to ask but they’re necessary for you to make a breakthrough. And the more you pray for courage and enlightenment from God, the more it will give you the strength to overcome the past.

Jesus said, “Come to me because I have overcome the world.” He wants us to look at Him as a model; He overcame the world. As heavy as your past trauma maybe, they can be overcome by prayer and trust in Jesus.

Let’s put it this way, oftentimes God doesn’t make our challenges go away. Instead, He does something more important which is He changes our character. The more we focus on His word, the more we pray, and the more we trust Him resulting in action day to day, the more we’re transformed.

Is it going to be easy? Of course not. Is it going to happen overnight? Are you kidding me? Is it absolutely necessary? You are correct. Trust God fully and you’d be surprised where He will lead you.