In the Gospels, we see that an integral part of Christ's mission on earth was healing. As He traveled from town to town preaching the coming Kingdom of God, He showed forth that that Kingdom involves healing on every level: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Suffering Trauma in Our Humanity
While we live as daughters of the King through Baptism, we still live in a fallen world. None of us escape heartache, loss, or trauma. These challenges are varied in type and tempo, but the effects of sin touch all of us.
If you have already experienced deep trauma in your life, I am sorry. These experiences give us a front row seat to the fallen state of the world. What happened to you should not have happened to you. The brokenness you feel or have felt is not what was the original intent.
Working All Things for Our Good
The enemy would have these sufferings derail, deter, and discourage us. He seeks to use our pain to pull us away from hope and from the Lord. But what the enemy intends for our all, God will use for our good. He works all things for the good of those who love Him, and He will take what is formed against us and turn it on its head.
God's Heart breaks when we experience suffering or trauma, but He does not leave us there. He is our Protector and Redeemer, and He offers us grace and healing for every wound we bear.
Healed and Restored
This kind of divine restoration is the theme of the newest book from BIS blog writer Elza Spaedy. In Healed and Restored, Elza walks us through her own experience of deep trauma and how it impacted her life. She is honest about the wounds and doubts she incurred through the experience, and she gives us great hope in her testimony to God's intervention.
Elza is a true mentor and sister in Christ. You can feel her compassion ooze through the text. She has an enormous heart for women who suffer trauma. She doesn't sugarcoat it. She names it and honors the pain we may experience. But her Christ-like heart shines through in the fact that she does not let that by the end of the story. Elza did not let her pain be the end of her story—she let God write a redemption. And she offers us the same invitation.
Through advice both practical and spiritual, Healed and Restored offers us a path forward in God's light and love. Elza covers the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of healing from trauma, seeking to bring comfort to the whole person.
If you or someone you love has experienced deep suffering, please gift them this book. It will provide a light in the darkness and point to the One Who will ultimately make all things new.
Have you read this book yet? What did you think?
BIS Reads // Healed and Restored #BISblog //Click to tweet
Olivia Spears lives in Kentucky, where sweet tea and bourbon flow like milk and honey. She holds degrees in Theology and Catechetics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and works from home while enjoying her children and husband. She curates relevant and inspiring content for Catholic women as Blog Manager. She is the narrator of Set a Fire, And Hay Became Holy, and All She Had as well as a contributing author for Rise Up. Find out more about her here.
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