by Gardner Hall<\/p>\n
Three responses to trauma:<\/p>\n
“I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse<\/em>” (Psalms 39:2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The world is full of tragedy and suffering. Many are traumatized by the rejection of selfish spouses, parents, children, or brethren in their congregations.<\/p>\n
To refuse to acknowledge trauma in our lives can reflect arrogance-“I can handle this all by myself. I don’t need God or my brethren.”<\/p>\n
Become a Victim<\/h2>\n
To identify ourselves primarily as victims isn’t healthy, nor to wallow in victimhood. Such produces the bitter, chip-on-the-shoulder, angry Christians who identify themselves with their trauma more than their faith. They can’t enjoy the spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) or the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:8) because they are dominated by self-pity or by anger at those they perceive as oppressors.<\/p>\n
Turn It Over to God<\/h2>\n
Turn it over to God-though He doesn’t miraculously take away our trauma or its memories, His word and His people give us the hope and encouragement to persevere through it. Perhaps the most documented example we have of consignment of trauma to God would be the Psalms of Lament of David. He “cast his anxieties on God<\/em>” (I Peter 5:7).<\/p>\n
Romans 8 sums up the proper approach, “the sweet spot,” as to how we should see ourselves in an evil world.<\/p>\n
\n
- “We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered<\/em>” (Romans 8:36). Yes, many will look down on us.<\/li>\n
- “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us<\/em>” (Romans 8:37).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Though seeming to be “sheep to be slaughtered<\/em>,” we are “more than conquerors through Him that loved us<\/em>.” Let’s live and act like conquerors, not victims.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gardner Hall Three responses to trauma: Repress It “I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse” (Psalms 39:2). The world is full of tragedy and suffering. Many are traumatized by the rejection of selfish spouses, parents, children, or brethren in their congregations. To refuse to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[652,182,1916],"class_list":["post-95752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-grief","tag-suffering","tag-trauma"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-having-imaginary-friends-prevent-you-from-entering-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":95752,"position":0},"title":"Can having imaginary friends prevent you from entering Heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have an odd question for you. Can having imaginary friends prevent you from entering Heaven? Answer: I must say, your question was not one I would have expected. Just over 1\/3 of children invent imaginary friends. Those who do invent imaginary friends tend to be the oldest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sin-leveling\/","url_meta":{"origin":95752,"position":1},"title":"Sin Leveling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gardner Hall What is \"sin leveling\"? 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The early 1950s featured speakers on the nationwide \"church\" program, \"Herald of Truth,\" who emphasized compliance with \"the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-former-mormon-missionary-on-how-to-reach-mormon-missionaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":95752,"position":4},"title":"A Former Mormon Missionary on How to Reach Mormon Missionaries","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Darryl Smelser Today, I happened across a YouTube video produced by a former Mormon missionary and former Mormon believer. He spoke about the trauma his Mormon faith and specifically his 2-year mission put him through. I'd like to share an observation of his. 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How do I change?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by my stepfather from the age of 13 until 16.\u00a0 I became pregnant by him at the age of 15\u00a0 and had his child when I was 16.\u00a0 He continued his abuse towards me even after.\u00a0 I finally got the urge to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}