A Savior’s Understanding of Trauma
Because God saw the pain and suffering I walked through, he provided the help, support, healing, and deliverance I needed. And he will provide complete healing when Christ returns. I can always rely on a Savior who identifies directly with the pain of the traumatized. Jesus left his throne of power and privilege in heaven, reestablished his presence with those he had created, and walked among them. He didn’t roll into town in a gold- plated chariot wearing fancy threads; he walked right into the messiness of a persecuted minority group—the Jews—living as they lived, hurting as they hurt, making their trauma his own, grieving as they did, and dying as they would. Then he rose from the dead, proving to them and us that there is life after death and that he controls this life that is to come after death.
Trusting in Healing and New Life
Thanks be to God that our Savior understands trauma. Our Savior understands when we lament, God, you don’t see me, and you don’t care. In the depths of his trauma, this Savior cried out similar words of lament: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And because pain and suffering unite us more than anything else, I know I can trust the authenticity of his pain. I can also trust his resurrection, this new life that conquered death. When he presents a path toward healing, toward eating the bread of life, toward drinking living water for sustenance, I can take him up on that proposal to heal, to eat, to drink, to be nourished. To experience freedom and new life through him.
Will you eat, drink, and be nourished so you can experience this freedom and new life?
I recently met with a young woman who sought me out for counseling help. She was in her last year of college but found herself with an unexpected pregnancy. I was instantly reminded of my own experience and the trauma that an unplanned pregnancy can cause for a woman—feeling lost, confused, and ashamed, knowing that the child inside will change the trajectory of her life forever. My pregnancy did, in fact, change the trajectory of my life. God used the birth of my son to turn my life around. It was at this juncture that Christ met me and began taking me on a journey. It was my “well experience” with God, like that of the Samaritan woman in John 4. It was my spring in the desert, like in the story of Hagar. It was at that moment I began to see the God who sees me. It was the genesis of my calling: to be a voice that preaches the good news of Jesus Christ and an instrument of healing in the lives of other women who experienced trauma. This was a moment for rejoicing, not for shaming and doling out punishment.
A Journey of Healing
I use the word journey or process to describe the healing of traumatic wounds, because that’s exactly what it is. Accepting the offer to heal doesn’t mean you will wake up healed the next day. What it does mean is that each day, you accept the transformation that occurs when you fight and choose life, when you choose healing, when you choose freedom.
Dieula Magalie Previlon is the founder and executive director of ElevateHer International Ministries with a vision to empower women to heal from trauma and thrive. She is a Counselor in private practice and an ordained minister. Her professional career in counseling, coaching, pastoring, and international ministry spans over 20 years. Her most recent book, Does God See Me?, will release on May 7, 2024 from NavPress.
Dieula was born in Haiti, the fourth daughter in a family of eight. Her career and ministry today are because her parents sacrificed immensely for the sake of their family, entering an immigration process to the United States that spanned many hardships over several years. The mother of three adult sons, Dieula lives in New Jersey with her husband, Fresnel. Learn more at dieulaprevilon.com.
Adapted from Does God See Me?: How God Meets Us in the Center of Our Trauma-Healing Journey by Dieula Magalie Previlon. Copyright © 2024. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
