Your Trauma Matters: 5 Steps Toward Healing After Trauma

You matter. Regardless of what you have lived through, your pain is valid, and you deserve the opportunity to embrace healing after trauma.

Your trauma matters

These are all types of trauma that may have occurred in your life.

• Maybe you’ve always bottled up something that happened to you.
• Perhaps you’ve lived your worst nightmare but have never uttered a single word.
• Maybe you’ve been too ridden with fear, guilt, shame, or feelings of insignificance.
• Perhaps you witnessed a natural disaster.
• Maybe you were the bystander of a horrific accident.
• Perhaps you were assaulted by someone you trusted.
• Maybe you lost your best and only true friend.
• Perhaps you lost your home, your “safe place” and belongings to a house fire.
• Maybe someone uttered words that broke your spirit and you lost your hopes and dreams.
• Perhaps you’ve seen a family member battle a horrifying disease, leaving you traumatized by the events that played out in front of you.
• Maybe you’ve been abused by a boyfriend, parent, or a complete stranger.
• Perhaps you’ve been threatened, leaving you always on edge and fearful.
• Maybe you’ve witnessed community violence that left you feeling paralyzed with fear.

Regardless of what you have seen and been through, I’m so sorry for the hurt that has impacted your heart.

“One of the things that pains me is we have so tragically underestimated the trauma, the hardship we create in this country when we treat people unfairly, when we incarcerate them unfairly, when we condemn them unfairly.” – Brian Stevenson

Five steps to healing after trauma

There are five steps toward healing after trauma. Study these steps and think about how you can apply them to your life.

Step 1: Acknowledgement.

Instead of trying to hide, ignore, bury, stomp on, or shove aside your trauma, you need to address it. The first step is to admit and acknowledge what happened to you and how it impacted you. Say the words. Cry. Allow yourself the opportunity to feel what you have endured rather than try to stuff those feelings in a tiny box for another day. Pour your thoughts and feelings onto paper. Reach out to a counselor for help if you feel overwhelmed in this step.

Step 2: Realization.

Something shifted after you endured trauma. While God can restore your brokenness, it is imperative to realize that the trauma you endured changed some part of you. The change may be through perspective, testimony, or how you approach the future and find the hope God has for you. It might change how you treat and minister to other people who are enduring their own kind of trauma.

 Step 3: Embrace your scars.

You do not have to view your story as a sense of imprisonment; but as the process of pushing through difficulty. That is strength! Your scars are proof that you can overcome hardships. They are proof that God has not and will not abandon you. Your scars can also serve as hope for those around you. Do not be afraid to speak about your scars. Let your scars shine through as reminders of the strength inside of you. Allow the tests of your trauma to become part of your testimony.

Step 4: Trust and community.

Trauma healing is a path that should not be walked alone. You need your spouse, your best friend, or the inner circle of people in your life to walk with you on it. Your counselor, your pastor, and your church family can be of great help to you. You need your co-workers, neighbors, and those who have endured similar trauma. This does not mean you have to spew out details of the events that happened to you, but you are going to need people.

While the world we live in can be a harsh place, there are kindhearted people who want to be there for you. If you never allow them the chance, then you both might be missing out on a blessing that God has prepared for you. Let people bring you a meal. Give people permission to check in on you. Learn through your contact with others that God is with you, even in the most subtle ways.

Step 5: Move at your own pace. 

Do not compare your trauma to those around you. Do not invalidate your feelings because you feel someone else went through something people think is “worse.” Trauma is trauma and has different effects on everyone.

Some days might feel like they used to feel. Other days, you might find it difficult to get out of bed. Some days you might check everything off your to-do list. Other days, you might feel like the only real thing you accomplished was showering and eating.

Take care of your physical needs, prioritize your spiritual needs, and give your emotional needs permission to feel and heal at their own pace. “There is no timestamp on trauma. There isn’t a formula that you can insert yourself into to get from horror to healed. Be patient. Take up space. Let your journey be the balm.” – Dawn Serra

If you do not know what to do, what to feel, or who to turn to – turn to Jesus first. In a world that pushes us to look for “quick fixes” when our emotions are in overdrive, know that temporary things are fleeting and often quite unfulfilling. True fulfillment and genuine hope comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Remember not to:

• Keep your feelings hidden.
• Put a timeline on processing your feelings.
• Refuse to seek help.
• Compare your trauma to anyone else.

You do not have to hide in the shadows with your trauma seeping through the most vulnerable parts of your heart.

Biblical help for healing after trauma

The Bible says, “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Revelation 21:5a, ESV). He wants to make you new, too. God will give you new hope, conversations, stepping-stones, possibilities, and beginnings. He will provide new opportunities to overcome the unfortunate events that happened to you.

You can meditate on this Bible promise:

But forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. – Isaiah 43:18-19, NLT

Here are more scriptures to meditate upon, write out, and use as a basis for prayer when you are dealing with trauma:

…casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7. ESV

When you feel anxious as you process trauma, cast your anxiety on God.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10, ESV

Take comfort knowing God is holding you in his hand as you work through your trauma.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. – Psalm 107:13-16, ESV

The Lord will deliver you from the distress of your trauma and break the strongholds that hold you captive.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. – Psalm 34:4, ESV

Seek the Lord through prayer when trauma memories occur, and he will comfort you with his presence.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. – Psalm 34:18-19, ESV

If you feel brokenhearted or crushed in spirit, know that the Lord is near you in your suffering and will deliver you from it.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. – John 16:33, ESV

We are never promised a trauma-free life. However, God can replace your trauma with his perfect peace.

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. – Psalm 30:2, ESV

God will be faithful to provide healing for your trauma as you seek him and reach out for professional help.

Choose your new today with the counselors at our office. Do not let the trauma you have endured impact the endless possibilities God has for you.