Childhood Trauma and Christians

I was teaching about inner healing in Connecticut in the 80's. Breaking Free was the fifth class in our series of equipping Lay Ministers.

The first is Listening for Heaven's Sake.
Second is Power Christian Thinking
Third is Speaking the Truth in Love
Fourth is How to Be Me in My Family Tree
Fifth is Breaking Free from the Past

The research on how best to bring relief to people suffering from Shock, Trauma, and Abuse concludes that a combination of interventions is most effective. 

First, always treat people with Genuine concern, Respect, Empathy, and Warmth. (GREW). We teach those first.
Second, Renewing the mind from Pessimism to Optimism. From Hopelessness to Hope. From Despair to Faith. We teach this in Power Christian Thinking. 
Third, reconnect with the family. We cover this in "How to be Me in My Family Tree."
Fourth, heal hurts with prayer and forgiveness. "Breaking Free".

I had sent a copy of the Breaking Free from the Past book to Pastor Doug Rumford in advance of the retreat. It allowed him to choose people in advance who had been through the preparatory classes and experiences. We wanted to make sure they were mentally and emotionally mature enough to be engaged in the Breaking Free Small Groups and our intense prayer times.

I was available to visit any small group that needed special attention or that got stuck. One group was trying to assist Mae, a woman in her late 40's who was compulsively trying to develop a better "Self Esteem". She had several degrees with honors and wonderful reviews from her work life, but still had bouts of self doubt and anxiety about herself. Mae had spent thousands of hours in Psychotherapy with little relief.  She was desperate. 

When I attended the group they were stuck after hearing Mae's story of successful life and still felt so badly. I asked if I could focus on her childhood and she agreed that it was OK. When I asked her if she had experienced any severe shocks and trauma during her childhood, she mentioned being lured into a house with food and candy by five German soldiers during WWII. She and her family were extremely hungry so she was trying to get something for them. While there, she was molested by some of the men and then sent away with gifts of food.

The prayer group was immediately caught up in the story.We prayed that God would heal her memories of that awful event. After a time of emotional release and waves of spiritual power, Mae was greatly relieved. However, we sensed that there was still an area of unrest in her.

I gently probed. "Did the Holy Spirit bring anything else to your mind. She thought  for a moment and replied, "I feel guilty because I disobeyed my mother when I went into the house. She had warned me not to go into any house with Nazi soldiers but I wanted the food and candy so badly that I did anyway. Then I lied to her about what happened. I never told my family what those men did to me."

I summarized what she had said and asked her if she had ever confessed her sin to clear up her conscience. She said she had not so we gave her permissions to pray for forgiveness. Mae tearfully poured out her heart to the Lord and asked for forgiveness. Then symbolically she asked her mother to forgive her for events that had occurred so many years before but still remained stuck in her heart and soul.

All this came about after about two hours of listening, prayers, and discussions. The immediate result was a tremendous release of guilt, shame, condemnation, and hidden pain. We do not know the long term results but the Pastor reported that she was a "different person" at home and church.

It is easy to pray for obvious shock and trauma but we need to be open to additional issues as well. By pressing on and in we discovered the basic issue was guilt. 

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by
setting me free.(Ps 118:5)


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