God and Sexual Assault

The True Path to Healing

How do we recover?

I believe God still works miracles among us. It is my belief that if He wanted to heal us right away He would do it. However, I also believe that sometimes He doesn’t so we can draw closer to Him and share what He is doing in our lives with others and bring Him glory.

I have prayed for God to heal me of all my trauma, but the way He is leading me is through processing through it. Many survivors believe they can just forget about what happened and move on with life.

I know of people who don’t want to revisit the painful places and heal from them. Many claim they were healed from what happened by various things.

One example, is Sally Field. Recently she was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. She has accomplished a lot by the world’s standards, yet one thing she said in an interview gave me pause.

She said, “Acting healed me.” Okay, so maybe acting was a way she could try to move on and not remember what happened. To stay busy and play various roles where life was different.

However, she admits she was sexually abused. She also says she doesn’t trust men and doesn’t want to be married because her past complicates it. Well, if she was “healed” from what happened those things would no longer be issues.

I fully admit I am not healed yet. I still have quite a ways to go to work through all that happened to me, but I am processing through the events. I no longer believe all men are not trustworthy.

I fully trust my therapist and he’s a male. I still need to learn more about being in healthy relationships as well, so that if the proposition to marry arrives I can enter it without my past lingering in the shadows.

Ultimately, I have learned on my journey that there are ways to process trauma, and that is what sexual assault is; trauma.

Therapists can use sensorimotor therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and havening to help us process through events.

I encourage you to look them up and learn what each is and how they work. (I linked them for you.) Ask your therapist what they are certified in and if they aren’t I encourage you to find someone who knows how to work with trauma survivors.

The true path to healing is not around, in forgetting, and usually not in a one-time healing from God. However, with God’s strength and guidance He can lead us to people who can help us heal from all that has happened.

We don’t have to be stuck in life. With time we can work through trauma and welcome healing. Even if it doesn’t come before we die we will ultimately be healed when we meet Jesus face to face. That is the hope I hold onto today and I encourage you to do the same.

© 2019 Susan M. Clabaugh. All Rights Reserved.

 

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