Part 1
A trauma is not so much the event itself as it is the effect of the event on my mind. Trauma is an overload on our emotions and no healthy inner solutions to it. A trauma has an altering effect. What does a trauma feel like? I may feel nothing because there was a void there at the time. It may be pleasurable at the time, but the damage shows up later. And the way we usually think of it; that it was horrific.
Trauma brings shame. Trauma brings anger. Trauma brings hopeless despair. The more mature a person is, the less trauma permanently affects them. An infant and child is affected more deeply as that is the time that “normalcy” is being developed. Trauma becomes the dysfunctional way of living for an infant or child. Trauma stops the impulse to create belonging.
I really feel that Peter was experiencing trauma when Jesus was being arrested in the garden and then being tried for what??? Bogus charges??? This was not how it was supposed to go. Jesus was the Messiah and He was supposed to be bringing deliverance…… All that was happening did not add up and Peter was in overload of emotions with no mental solution to it all. So, he denied even belonging or knowing Jesus because He must not be the Messiah or all this wouldn’t be happening …… John18
Trauma doesn’t mean I am bad, or that I deserve what has or is happening to me. Living out some results of trauma doesn’t mean I’m bad or in a hopeless situation. Trauma doesn’t mean that God has forgotten me or doesn’t care or feel my pain. Trauma means that my normalcy of life has been affected and altered. Currently, those in Israel are experiencing trauma …..
Sooo…. Is there hope and healing from trauma? YES !! See Part 2