28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
I have done a lot of reading since my trauma experience of 2007. Stories about veterans of war coming home to massive post traumatic memories that do not seem to go away. Stories about the native American population developing trauma experiences because of the breakup of their family and cultural structures through generations and watching the by product of alcoholism, unemployment and school drop out rates soar as a result of the trauma.
When those of us who experience trauma attempt to bury it through overwork or substance abuse we are only temporarily blocking the emotional memories from coming into our consciousness until our mind clears up again and we once again have those same traumatic images. It is a vicious cycle that continues endlessly until one day we over dose on the substance we are abusing and death envelops us and now it is our families that have to cope with your loss. Since alcoholism is a systems illness future generations learn that the only way to cope with trauma is through alcohol consumption and drug use.
Like the guy in this video I chose to allow God to help me walk my pathway of traumatic sorrow. Since I had made a conscious decision early on in my life to not drink I knew that substance abuse was not going to be an option for me. Instead, I found really good listeners who were willing to listen to me recite my pain into words without casting judgement on me. I read the Psalms, the gospels and discovered that sorrow and grief was every where in the biblical times. As I read I discovered how turning to God helped these people to recover from their sorrow. I discovered that just as the scripture I have chosen says that God works all things for the good of those who love him.
God wants for us to recover from the trauma in our lives so we don't pass our trauma into future generations like it has with our native American population, or with our veterans of foreign wars. God wants us to choose to allow Jesus to walk with us on this lonely road of grief. He wants us to reject substance abuse as a way of coping with loss and to tell Him what it is that is troubling you today. Won't you take a moment and ask God to bring trusted listeners into your life? Won't you choose to make this the day to move forward and allow God to convert those painful traumatic images into a positive reflection of God's amazing healing grace?
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