“Healing from Trauma”
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Romans 8:28
Romans 8:28
welcome
tell story of time I tried something had a bad experience never wanted to do it again
recap
Subject most difficult to talk in the series is—Trauma
Many of you have endured severe abuse/trials/pain/heartbreak.
What is trauma? A lot of people think that it's the event, it's the injury, it's the abuse, but technically speaking, trauma is actually the response to what happens in an event.
Trauma is a response to a deeply disturbing or distressing event.
Some think of trauma as physical, kind of like a traumatic injury, a physical injury,
but the truth of the matter is that while trauma can be physical and it often is, it also can be emotional, it can be mental, it can even be spiritual, spiritual abuse or spiritual trauma.
trauma is not just physical
think of the saying sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me…they were so wrong…
The wounds you can’t see can hurt as much as the ones you can see.
And so it's with a very real awareness that many of you have been hurt and deeply wounded and been through horrible experiences that I wanna share God's Word today.
I wanna read a scripture verse to you today that maybe has been said to you in the middle of your pain = good intentions
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
this is a powerful truth, an important truth, a life changing truth, but doesn't feel helpful right now…at least not yet…
When you still feel like you're in shock or maybe denial, or maybe you feel moody because of what happened and you don't know why you can't control your emotions, or you feel overwhelmed with anxiety, or you feel numb completely.
Or even though what happened to you may not have been your fault, you feel guilt and shame for something that someone else did to you.
pray say why…
so today i want to show us 3 Ways to Seek Healing From Trauma
Generation—Get over it! Not that bad. (Rub dirt, spanish saying)
You don’t just get over trauma—Heal from it.
Build foundation understand—Show you in scripture how to pursue healing
The 3 Types of Trauma
• Acute—Response from a one-time traumatic event.
Car accident—Natural disaster For those of you in Oklahoma it was a tornado, for those of you in Southern Florida it was a hurricane, for those in ideldale it was a power outage (joke)—Complicate birth, Covid—Date rape.
• Chronic—Long-term response from prolonged or repeated
events.
For example, some of you may have been bullied all the way through junior high, or others of you experienced racism for most of your life.
It might have been that you were very, very young, five, six years old, you came across pornography for the very first time and you looked at porn six years old, seven year olds, eight year old, nine year old, and you've been looking at it for years and it's a very traumatic experience for you.
Some of you, you were raised in a home where there was alcohol or there was drug abuse and you lived in an environment that never ever felt safe to you.
Bullied. Porn. Mom/Dad alcoholic. Sexually abused.
Complex—Response to multiple and ongoing events.
Raised home/Marriage—Some combination all talked about.
This is when you're raised in a home or you're married to someone and you see some combination of all the things that we talked about. There's chemical abuse, there's emotional abuse, there's physical abuse, there might be sexual abuse and the list could go on and on.
Trauma—Changes how you see—People—God—Life.
car Wreck—Terrified ride in a car.
For you, it might be that someone hurts you and you don't know how to trust people,
it might be that you find it difficult to trust God,
it might be that you grew up with no money, and so you got these really dysfunctional views and fear of not having enough no matter what,
it might be that someone did something to you and so you are traumatized worrying that one day they'll do the same thing to one of your children therefore you cant ever trust people again…
how do we heal from trauma?? = lets look to scripture…
talk about Paul = in ministry for a long time and never really looked at Paul as a person who experienced trauma…
you know the person that said "To live is Christ, to die is gain"
paul who wrote 2/3 of the NT…that guy dealt with acute, chronic and complex trauma…
look at pauls coming to jesus moment…it was TRAUMATIC…
tell story of my coming to jesus moment (jokingly)
The apostle Paul was killing Christians and in Acts 9 you can read about it. A light from heaven knocked him into the ground.
We don't know for sure what light knocks people to the ground, but based on my fifth grade science class, that was probably lightning, possibly struck by lightning.
And then a voice from heaven speaks, and the voice doesn't say, "Hello, my servant, I have chosen thou." The voice says, "Why you persecuting me, Saul?"
God knocks him down and ask him a in your face question. Then, Paul is blind, three days, and God doesn't say, "Don't worry three days from now I'm gonna send this guy, he's gonna come pray for you and you're gonna be healed." God doesn't do that.
He's just blind, he's knocked down by lightning, a voice from heaven is not particularly generous, and then he is blind for three days,
and then he is healed and this Christian killer becomes a killer Christian preacher-
the good that God works in his life was a 6-figure salary w/ great benefits/all the ladies…
no no no no no…Rest of his life—Endured prolific abuse—Running for his life
• Damascus (Acts 9:23-25)
• Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:50-51)
• Iconium (Acts 14:2, 5-6)
• Lystra (Acts 14:19)
• Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-9).
• Berea (Acts 17:13-14)
• Corinth (Acts 18:12-17)
• Jerusalem (Acts 21:27-36)
talk on paul running for his life and that Paul endured ongoing, severe trauma. so How do we heal? (3 ways in scripture for us to pursue and find healing…
when we look at pauls life we can learn this first way of healing…
1) We process the pain of our trauma.
Don’t heal when you → Ignore—Suppress—Forget.
like tylenol you cover the pain but it doesnt fix the issue…the wound is still there even if we choose to ignore it…
Start to heal when you → Process it, when you acknowledge it. (Abused/Raped/Abandoned)
Reason we want bury it—Feel vulnerable—Helpless.
• Instead of seeking connection, we prioritize protection.
• We don’t heal in isolation. We heal best in community.
Ignore pain—Wound still—Something else cope—Drug. Alco. Sex.
back to paul this man went through it again using his life as an example of How God can help us heal this is what paul went through
And you can read this whole text in 2 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23 if you want to, I'll just give you the high points.
Essentially it says, he was in prison too many times to count, five times, he was beaten with 39 lashes. Now, why 39 lashes? Because you could actually die from 39 lashes. But if you died from 39 lashes, in court they would say you died from a beating. If you died from 40 lashes, that would be murder, so they would just beat you 39 times and see if you lived.
Five times, he was lashed 39 times, three times, he was beaten with rods, he was stoned, (and I feel like in this day and age I need to say that's not recreationally speaking, just based on where we are in the world today just thought I would say that.)
He was shipwrecked, he almost starved to death, he froze, he was in danger everywhere that he went, and this is what he said in 2 Corinthians 1:8
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
Paul processing his trauma—Talks about it.
Encourage you—Process the pain of your trauma.
Trusted friends—Pastor—Xian counselor trained help
so the first one 1. We process the pain of our trauma ill add with trusted people.
2) We prayerfully press in to God with our trauma.
We take it to God, we cry out to God, we talk to God, we might even complain to God about it, and this is what Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12.
heres some conext = paul was talking about a thorn = many dont know but he had a thorn that was tormenting him…
many of us have a thorn, can you raise a hand if you have a thorn…(and if your thorn is sitting by you right now please dont elbow them…)
But it seems like all of us have that something that we wish we didn't have in life.
and this is what paul did
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
talk on this = many scholars believe this was more like three seasons rather than three prayers…
Didn’t blame G—Prayed. Pleaded.
Take your hurt to God—Then take it again—Take it a 3rd time!
You can unload on God—Wasn’t fair—Shouldn’t have happened! Not my fault—Don’t know what to do—Don’t know how to heal!
Be honest—Don’t hold back—Cast cares—Cares you!
You give Him your praise, you give Him your thanksgiving, and you give Him your hurt from your heart. God, please take it away.
Three times he pleaded with the Lord and God responded to him.
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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Preach
“In the thing that you hate the most, you'll best discover my power and presence." And Paul says something that would be just almost weird in any other circumstance, he says, "That's why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak," he says, "Then I'm strong."
Nothing can change your past.
But God can heal your broken heart.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
lets continue as we conclude…
1. We process the pain of our trauma with trusted people.
2. We prayerfully press into God with our trauma.
3. We pursue purpose in our trauma.
Hesitant talk about this—Know if you’re hurting—Hate me.
Too soon. Not for you yet.
paul said this in the middle of all he had gone through
he had been beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, left for dead, whipped too many times to count, and he says this,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
preach on this
some of you are in here and saying im not okay…You're frustrated more easily, angry more easily, you're more critical, you're more dissatisfied, you're hurting more.
It's not you, it's, something's not right = theres trauma that you still might be dealing with…
tell story of Mitch…
ive been through trauma ive been healed and im able to speak to you today not from my strenght but from the strength of Jesus thats in me…
heres what i want you to know is that when you heal you dont just move on but you become stronger…so you can now share with others and now help them…
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
preach on this
understand this…
• Your trauma may not have been not your fault.
• But pursuing God for healing is your responsibility.
Don’t get over it—Heal from it!
Preach
HOLY SPIRIT TAKE OVER…