It may be you.
There are some things that we don’t talk about in the church, yet it affects the church a lot. In the United States, 1 in 5 women have experienced rape or attempted rape. A third of the women experienced it between the ages of 11 to 17. Source
Men also have experienced sexual violence. Almost one quarter of men reported unwanted experiences. 43% of men report harassment and 81% of women report harassment.
We have a serious problem and ignoring it hasn’t proven successful at eliminating this problem. And if we can’t ignore it, we have to tackle it, but how?
Counseling can help in some cases, but some can go years without tackling the core issues. How can we help this multitude of people overcome the garbage they had to endure?
- Prayer is a good start. When someone comes into your life with broken relationships, there is likely trauma behind it. Tread carefully with prayer. God wants to heal that person. He loves that person more than you!
- Cleansing Stream is a gentle, six-week introduction to the issues a person has experienced and a good start towards getting trauma healing.
- I Had to Change is an 8 week course by Charlet Lewis, and it is a deep dive into the issues which tackles them head on. I recommend both the book and the workbook.
- Lead a class using Healing the Wounds of Trauma.
- The Spirit is our Helper and Healer. God can use something unexpected to bring us to tears and, in that moment, heal us.
We have to normalize talking about trauma healing. People who have experienced this are broken and ashamed. We have to normalize bringing our filth to the brethren or people won’t receive healing for their hearts which they so desperately need. If you are ministering to someone who is doing trauma healing, make sure you reach out more than once a week. People need to know you care. “See you on Sunday” is not going to change their lives.
If it’s you that needs help with trauma healing, please reach out to me.
Following Jesus 