The matter of suffering and our desire to somehow avoid it in life has been very present lately as my awareness has been heightened by my own and others’ experiences….
One person told me she’d had a dream in which her abuser, no longer in her life, had chased her. She ran in her dream, trying to hide, again and again. As he drew closer and closer, Jesus spoke to her and said, “Turn and face him.” She turned and her abuser stopped in his tracks and could come no further. She said to me, “The Lord told me to face all of this.”
We discussed a time in her life when her choices were limited by her young age and inescapable circumstances. She had been kept from school, church, work and other activities to keep family secrets hidden, thinking that limitations she had would be seen as the excuse. But as an adult now, she has drawn around herself the full equipping of God’s armor, as we had discussed on many occasions. She smiled. She said, “It feels good to quit running and face the past.”
Embracing trauma counseling and learning life skills help foster healing …. What a miracle of God!
This is the first year, she says, that she has something to celebrate on her birthday…… Thank you, Lord, for hope and a future you make available to all.