“They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:3)
Who would think of a broken person – a survivor of childhood trauma – to become as solid as an oak tree? Yet that is how Jesus sees us as we follow Him.
When a person experiences trauma in childhood it causes future problems. Though we “survive” merely by age, those childhood wounds of abuse, neglect, violence and unjust punishment don’t ever seem to go away. It goes deep down into our roots. God never intended children to go through such pain. But this world is unfair – one child is advantaged, another is not – just to survive seems a miracle.
Then enters Jesus. He came to earth in the form a of a man to show us the truth about ourselves and His Father God. He made a way to become our Brother. That sets us apart as bothers and sisters of Jesus, and children of God Most High. It was His work and His words that set us free.
Now … how do we cut through the pain and become our true selves that God intended?
We do the work of re-learning and re-experiencing our lives. But this time we have Jesus, we have our friends, we have our own faith, and we can make it. We are bigger now, and we can strive to recover from the ill-effects of childhood trauma. But it takes time and it takes work.
And it all begins with power, love, direction, and truth that comes only from God. On our own we fail every time. But with the help of God and friends, we will overcome. We were born of natural parents, but now we are born again as children of a Higher Power with a spiritual birthright – a spiritual Father and brother in Jesus.
To God be the glory! Amen.
By Thomas Isaac Berscheid