Excerpt: Relationship with God - Trauma Session 6
Course: Moving Through Trauma
Speakers: Matthias Barker, Benji Horning
Healing Trauma: A Holistic Path Through God, Others, and Self
We’ve seen trauma’s deep impact on our minds and bodies, requiring a holistic approach to healing – addressing our spiritual, relational, and personal well-being. Let’s begin with our connection to God.
Our Relationship with God: Building Trust in Vulnerability
Trust is key to integrating God into our healing, especially amidst doubts about suffering. While the question of pain is universal, Christianity offers a unique narrative: a good God allowing free will in a beautiful world, where sin brought brokenness. Though God’s intention remains good, we live in a flawed reality. Jesus himself acknowledged earthly troubles but offered hope in overcoming them.
Recognize that harm done to us often stems from this brokenness, not God’s direct will. Instead of “Why?”, consider “Where was God?”. Scripture reveals a God deeply present and empathetic in suffering, as seen in Jesus’ own experiences of rejection, betrayal, and abandonment. Knowing God understands can break the isolation of trauma. Through Him, pain can find purpose and brokenness can be redeemed.
The Examen Prayer can foster this trust. Reflect daily or weekly on moments of joy and pain, asking where God was present and how past trauma might be influencing current struggles. Gently process these with God, allowing His light into the darkness. This practice cultivates gratitude for His presence and redemptive power.
Our Relationship with Ourselves: Finding Healing in Stillness
Our inner relationship is vital. Mindfulness practices, mirroring Christian contemplative prayer, can heal the neurological impacts of trauma. Focused breathing and silence can reactivate underactive brain regions crucial for emotional regulation and memory.
Contemplative prayer, as a Christian tradition, emphasizes silencing the mind to focus on God’s presence within us. Using a prayer word like “Jesus,” “peace,” or even a verse of scripture during mindful breathing helps anchor our attention in the present and invites God’s presence. This daily practice, even for short periods, trains our ability to refocus, benefiting our brain and fostering a sense of abiding in God’s peace. In this stillness, in communion with God, our bodies, settled in His presence, can find healing.
Conclusion: A Journey Towards Wholeness
We’ve explored the vital role of trust in our relationship with God and the healing potential of contemplative practices in our relationship with ourselves. As we continue this journey, remember that you are not alone. Engage with a God who intimately understands your pain and offers a path towards redemption. Embrace practices that cultivate inner stillness and awareness, allowing your mind and body to find healing in His presence.
A Prayer for Healing and Hope
Let’s pray, inviting Jesus into this moment. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and identify what you’ve felt during this course. Let’s recognize a God who understands.
Jesus, we acknowledge that in moments of abandonment, you felt abandoned. In moments of humiliation, you know that feeling. For moments of abuse, you identify with us. Whatever our story, thank you that we are not alone, and never have been, through your Holy Spirit.
Lord, give us the power to fight isolation, to resist letting the horror of trauma dictate our story. Sew redemption, Lord, in the soil of our hearts, that beauty may come from ashes. Thank you for your promise to make all things new. I pray now for everyone to sense that seed of newness and redemption sprouting and rooting itself in every life and every story. In Jesus’ name, amen.
If you like the content, you can continue in a few different ways…
- See the outline below and check out other sections from the Moving Through Trauma course.
- Take the full small group course to your church community! The first course your church runs is free! Reach out to us here to learn how.
- Connect with a Share The Struggle Coach for one-on-one support. Let’s face it, some of us have tried kicking this thing, and we’ve had no luck. It’s time to start looking toward forms of support that can help us see and feel the beautiful life God has in store for us.
Session 1
Welcome to the Moving Through Trauma Course
Video: Welcome
Video: Guardrails & Grace for the Journey
Video: For Those of You Who
Topics: Hypoarousal; Hyperarousal; Grace
Session 2
Video: Grounding Exercise - From a Place of Calm
Video: Unpacking Trauma
Video: Our Trauma Threshold
Topics: Embedded Trauma/Traumatic Event; Traumatic Threshold
Session 3
Video: Grounding Exercise - Breath and Bilateral Stimulation
Video: How Trauma Functions in our Emotions, Brain, and Body
Video: Our Three Primary Responses to Trauma
Topics: Neuroscience Terms; Fragmentation/Dissociation/Isolation
Session 4
Video: Grounding Exercise - Lowering Stress in the Nervous System
Video: How Family & Collective Systems Impact How We Experience Trauma
Video: Trauma’s Connection to our Health and Wellbeing
Topics: Attunement; Containment; Rupture & Repair; ACE Study (Third Video)
Session 5
Video: Grounding Exercise - Breathing in Hope
Video: How We Heal
Topics: Healing: Reconstruction; Release; Acceptance
Session 6
Video: Grounding Exercise - Grounded in the Present
Video: Relationship with God
Topics: Relationship with God; Prayer Practices
Session 7
Video: Relationship with Self
Topics: Cold Water Treatment; Developing Story Awareness
Session 8
Video: Grounding Exercise - From a Place of Calm
Video: Relationship with Others
Video: Redeeming Trauma
Topics: Building Support; Listening Triad
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