Hi
Today’s Holy Nougat invites us to to think intentionally about response to trauma.
“Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.” 1 Peter 5:9 NLT
She was confident that her experience was unique. And it was. The trauma was hers and in that regard, no one had been where she was. His body convulsed under the weight of the grief he bore. In silence, he wept internally. He was devastated, with no outlet for what he was undergoing. The next week, he journeyed with a colleague and concluded to himself that the colleague’s burden would have crushed him.
You see, trauma and grief are not strangers to humanity. They have no regard for age, class, gender, race, religion, culture or level of preparedness. Nope. They are no respecter of persons and are hardly ever convenient. So, if we are aware that trauma visits unexpectedly, and usually partnered by grief, why can’t we just prepare for it and move along?
Probably because trauma attacks our vulnerabilities; and usually in ways were ill prepared. No matter if we plan extensively for it.
Ironically, trauma and grief are part of the consortium of experiences which challenge the faith of those affected. Job’s story adds some clarity by helping those who care to realize that
~ God may choose to permit the situation without warning us
~ It is possible that God’s confidence in us is at the root of our crisis
~ Often the ones we expect to empathize are unaware of/unconcerned with our reality
~ God’s silence is not always judgement; nor is it necessarily an indication of apathy or unconcern.
~ What we survive is oftentimes the springboard for our ministering to other based on our experiences.
~ Though he got bitter about his experience at some points; Job never cursed God
~ At the end of it all, Job was the stronger for his experience – in faith and flesh
For, aAs strange as it might seem; God journeys with each of us through our seasons of trauma and grief. Thanks be to God, we are not alone.
Stress and trauma weighing on us? Perhaps committing them to God’s mercy may give us the strength to overcome.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
