Your Daily Disconnect

How can you tend to a wound you can't see? And how do you know if you have trauma lingering in your mind that needs a healing touch from those who are equipped and qualified in helping treat it?

 Here is a list of books that have been super helpful for me as I've navigated the process of healing from my own past trauma. Some of these books aren't written from a Christian perspective, but they're still very informative and helpful in understanding the way our minds work: ——————————————————————— Good Boundaries and Goodbyes - Lysa TerKeurst The Best of You - Dr. Alison Cook CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving - Pete Walker The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel Van Der Kolk Restoring the Shattered Self - Heather Gingrich Healing the Wounded Heart - Dan Allender Boundaries - Dr. John Townsend, Henry Cloud The Highly Sensitive Person - Dr. Elaine Aron Coping With Trauma-Related Dissociation - Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele, Onno Van Der Hart Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Counseling - Mark McMinn ——————————————————————— I will continue adding to this list as I read and learn more through this healing journey, but I am praying for the Lord to guide you to the resources ...

Trauma.  There seems to be a lot of hype around this word these days, but what is it exactly? With a quick search on the internet, you can find article after article basically describing trauma as the aftereffect of going through an extremely stressful, painful, terrifying, or distressing situation. 

“Never heard them say a word.” For a shy and quiet teenage girl who had grown accustomed to feeling invisible to most of the people around me, this superlative,  which happened to have been voted on by the entire senior class at my high school,  was a pretty accurate depiction of who I was at that time in my life – though I would’ve preferred for one of my strengths to have been cemented in people’s minds as they looked back through their high school yearbook, and not one of my greatest weaknesses .

When I was 3 years old, my parents got divorced, and I spent the majority of my childhood separated from my biological mother. I was only able to see her a handful of times growing up, and every time I was able to see her, it meant the world to me. I always missed her terribly when I had to go back home after our visits. As an adult, I understand why I couldn't be with her, but as a kid, it always hurt so much to be separated.

We’ve talked about the call to disconnect, what it means to disconnect, and the benefits of disconnecting, and now I’d like to talk about a not so fun aspect of disconnecting — what happens when we fail to do so.

I am the woman at the well.. but not in the way you may think.  No, I didn't have 5 husbands and I'm not with a man I'm not married to, but like the woman at the well, I found myself sitting face to face with Jesus in one of the hardest, driest, and loneliest seasons of my life: a season where I never wanted to step foot in another church again.