Post-Traumatic Transformations

Almost all of us go through traumatic times – unemployment, cancer, loss of a loved one.  Some experience what’s been called “true trauma,” which is worse – fire, flood, a daughter disappears, a son diagnosed with HIV.  When faced with such traumas, people feel anger, guilt, sadness, frustration.

Some retreat from the world.  Many just survive.  A few turn their trauma into something good for others – what I call a post-traumatic transformation.

One time a young girl named Joan, was abducted and murdered by a neighbor.  Her mother was shattered, suicidal, and laid in bed all day.  Why get up?  Because she had 2 other children depending on her, and they needed lunch.  Then doing the next thing after that.  At time went on, she wanted to honor her daughter’s life and spirit.  She collected signatures, spoke in schools and libraries, which lead to Joan’s Law that requires life sentences for sex offenders who kill children, signed into law in 1988.

Charles Lindburgh’s 20-month-old son was kidnapped and killed in 1932.  He pressed for the Lindbergh Law which allowed federal agents to pursue kidnappers across state lines.  Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).  In 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan.  His parents founded fellowships for journalists, including many Muslim journalists.  These people heeded the Biblical instruction, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

God turned his own trauma into something to help many others.  When the authorities executed God’s Son, God raised Him from the dead and sent his Spirit to help his people, which inspired the apostles to do miracles in his name and spread the gospel to the world.  When the Apostle Paul was put in prison for preaching the good news of Jesus, he shared God’s Word with the guards and wrote inspirational letters to the churches that he’d started; Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were written from a prison cell.

For many years, I was discouraged and depressed by the chronic pain in my back and neck, as well as my fibromyalgia.  The negatives outweighed the positives.  But after I started a group to  help others with chronic illness and chronic pain, I felt such deep joy and satisfaction.  All those years of pain were being used for something good.  It was like God had redeemed all those bad experiences I’d had, and made something good to help others.

Now, consider the traumas that you’ve gone through, and how God has healed you and helped you to survive.  How can you use that experience to help others?  Maybe you know someone going through a similar experience and could offer them a word of understanding and encouragement, as well as a helping hand.  That would transform your trauma into something good that helps other people. 

As we say in Rotary Club, will it be beneficial to all concerned?  Pastor Rick Warren says that God doesn’t waste a hurt; instead, God uses our hurts to teach us to help others.