Because of Your Support: Trauma Healing

As Destiny walked into the classroom, she said, “I couldn’t sleep at all last night — I was just so excited to wake up and come here today for this workshop!” Later that same day Destiny said it felt like waiting for Christmas morning. After carrying the weight of trauma for so long, allowing God to begin healing those wounds does feel a little bit like a gift. The gift of peace.

Early in March we held our 11th trauma healing workshop since holding our very first workshop in 2014. Six women were in attendance — each carrying the burden of their past traumas, and many dealing with the daily effects of these burdens. Our trauma healing workshop gives them space and direction to intentionally hone in on these traumas, process what occurred, and learn how to move past them. Hearts are being changed and women are being equipped with tools to help them while hearing of the love of Christ and the healing that comes from Him. These tools also help each mom as they seek to build a healthy and safe home for their babies.

God is also using these workshops to allow the women to see how their past trauma may be perpetuating some poor decisions. One woman shared that she felt God provided the trauma healing workshop to help her get out of the house she was currently staying in and expressed she felt loved by the staff and was reminded that God loves her. Another woman was worried about feeding her family that week and we were able to provide her with breakfast and lunch each day, as well as take time to connect her to some food resources for her long term care.

At the conclusion of our workshops we usually distribute feedback forms, so we can understand how the women are responding to what they learned. After this particular session, in answer to the question about what they liked least about the workshop, nearly all of the feedback stated they didn’t want the workshop to end. They wanted more time learning from each other and our staff. We imagine there aren’t too many of them who have received that kind of intentional care in their past.

Trauma healing workshops are where our staff can see the most fertile soil for the gospel to take root. As women face their own failures and the failures of those around them, they see the light of the gospel shine so much brighter–right into their hearts and homes.