The Weapon is Trauma: How are You Confronting it?

"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness comes from me,” declares the LORD." Isaiah 54:17

Are you feeling anxious?

There is a lot happening in our world; that's not new information. As we watch the news we see crime -- murders, theft, misuse and tragedies caused by nature. Those things have always happened as well. Today, however, in a 24 hour news cycle, we can see the devastation of a hurricane, a school shooting, fires and political acts that each carry a measure of trauma with them.

According to Johns Hopkins University, when we watch upsetting news, it starts our body's fight or flight response -- the survival system activated by the brain to survive. (https://hr.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/JHEAP_Negative-News-Coverage-and-Mental-Health.pdf) This is the same system that activates when we are in physical danger: adrenalin is released along with the stress hormone, cortisol. Our brain kicks this system in to preserve our lives in case we are being pursued by an enemy. According to that same article, the increased heart rate, shallow breathing and upset stomach can start 14 minutes after you start watching the news. Fourteen minutes!

While you were not the one murdered, you learned of it in detail. You may not have been in the hurricane, but you saw the devastation of those who lost homes and family members. Your child may not have been part of the latest school shooting, but you may wonder...."what if...?" These are the thoughts running in the back of our minds while we work, and lead and counsel and encourage. We consider possibilities and are triggered by thoughts of what might happen one day. 

As I pondered my own state today, it occurred to me that the spiritual weapon formed against many today is trauma. We are no longer traumatized by what we see, but by the possibilities those traumas mean for our own lives. You don't need me to lead you down that path because I'm pretty sure you've already been down it a time or two. 

When a weapon is natural, the solutions are often the same. But trauma impacts us physically and emotionally. For example, trauma can show up in your body as tense muscles, pain or fatigue. In the mind, trauma can manifest as forgetfulness, or an automatic response to expect the worst. If we are not careful, we will misplace our hope. We will negate the spiritual resources at our disposal as Believers that confront the sense of trauma in our world. 

You have within you, a unique way God has designed you to respond to the trauma of our world. I am not saying you have been designed to 'avoid trauma', but to respond from the Spirit of God that lives in you. I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you where to look: inside. 

Five years ago, in response to a traumatic event, I needed to see something different. I began to write a story of what could be. This story was (I thought) a place for my mind to escape from the trauma I saw in the world. Four years later, I released that story about the possibilities for our society. Writing is how I have been designed to respond. As I reflected, I realized that everything I have written, from the women’s devotionals to the children's stories, to the coaching books and the short novellas, have all been written in response to a problem I observed. Mike Murdoch in his book, The Assignment,says that we were all created to solve a problem. 

Writing a new story was my response to trauma. That story is now being studied by young people with the objective to write/create a different future.

Take some time to learn how God has created you to respond to the turmoil in our world, and ACT on it. What is in you will not only help you heal from the trauma you see in the world but will showcase a Divine solution for others to follow.

And, if you want to read a good story, here’s the link to the book that will also benefit the

Write The Future Program.  You can also buy it on Amazon.

You are loved,

Michele