If you are experiencing grief, or living with the effects of trauma or abuse, you can be empowered to live with your loss, work through your heartache and regain your strength, hope, and peace.

Most individuals who experience these problems can benefit from seeking appropriate professional help. This is highly recommended when the emotional distress negatively impacts functioning.

For the Christian, the Bible is the most reliable and definitive resource for self-care. God has given instructions in his word for dealing with mental and emotional distress.

Hebrews 4:12

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Extreme distressing emotions are often unreliable.

Jeremiah 17:9 states

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: “Who can know it?”

Ephesians 6:12

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Three of the most damaging lies and deceptions perpetrated against the people who have been traumatized, or abused are thoughts that they are inadequate, unworthy, or unlovable

You are more than adequate. Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

You are worthy because Christ made you worthy.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. If you believe you are unloved or unlovable, this fosters a sense of rejection and detachment from others. Yet the word of God declares “But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You did not have to be perfect or do all the right things. God loves you regardless.

You are loved unconditionally by God. Romans 5:8

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Foundational Principles for Healing and Recovery

1. Principal One: Fear cannot protect you. It holds you in bondage. You must have faith in and act on the promises of God. 2 Timothy 1:7

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

2. Principle Two: Know and believe that you are not alone. Joshua 1:9

“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

3. Principle Three: Know and believe that God is doing a new thing. Isaiah 43:19

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

4.Make a commitment to God and yourself to receive the healing and freedom God has promised you. Isaiah 53:5

It is important to remember that healing may not look the way you think it should.

Regardless of what it looks like, you can trust that God has a plan, and he knows what is best.

Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

In summary, you can receive healing from grief, trauma, and abuse. God has a plan. However, you must first embrace foundational principles of healing which include relying on the promises of; knowing and believing that you are not alone; understanding that God is doing a new thing in your life; and believing in the healing power of God.