What Happened to You

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” - Psalm 34:4 
 
Did you know our actions are often a reflection of the trauma in our lives? Yesterday, we told the story of a boy who acted out in class only after he had a new teacher who wore the same cologne as his abusive father.  

Oprah Winfrey and psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry relayed this story in the book, “What Happened to You?” The book examines ways in which we’ve gone through trauma in our lives, how it affects our brains, how it shapes how see ourselves, others, and the world, and how it influences the way we move through life.  

Trauma is the most significant factor that shapes and informs why we do what we do, and yet it is something that many of us fail to consider because when we’ve experienced something bad, something painful, or something that hurts us, the mind tries to protect us by forgetting about it or suppressing it.  

But even when the mind suppresses it, the body records it. It’s stamped in our nervous system and even as we move on from the moment, the sights, sounds, smells, and encounters can trigger the same responses, the same fears, the same thoughts, and the same anxieties that are rooted in our past.
 
Let me ask you a question: Have you ever taken the time to stop and ask, “What happened to me? Why am I the way I am?” Perhaps the problems you are dealing with are a result of never dealing with what happened in your past.

Sometimes, we tuck fear away and just try to burry the worry inside of us. We do not consider where that fear came from, and that what is causing these problems is actually something that happened to us in our past.
 
What happened to you? If you are struggling with something from your past, I want to encourage you not to forget about it, but let God heal you from it. He will. Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

Allow Him to deliver you from your fears. Do not let the past hold you hostage any longer!