This book is the result of my passion for uniting the insights gained from trauma-informed ministry and God's Word. I have dedicated the last decade of my ministry to better understanding the effect of traumatic experiences—especially those that happen in childhood—on human spirituality, resilience, and our capacity to hope. I believe it has made me a better minister of the gospel and a better follower of Jesus Christ. It has certainly opened up my heart and mind to a greater appreciation of the love expressed to us through the story of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter.
Lent is a time that the Church has traditionally encouraged self-reflection, penance, and meditation on the sacrifice God has made on behalf of our brokenness to bring healing and hope. For the trauma-affected, Lent can be a difficult time. Messages around suffering, patience, peace and repentance can easily get jumbled up with how the sin of others (specifically abuse and neglect) have caused us to see ourselves as irredeemable, broken, and shameful. How do we sort through the message of sin and God’s redemption of humankind without getting bogged down in the horror of the tragedies that have occurred in our world, continue to occur, and were—most importantly—endured by Jesus himself?
I believe it is not only possible, but beneficial. I know this from my own experience and from other faithful Christ-followers who are involved in trauma-informed ministry. The truth of the gospel doesn’t need to be discarded in order to find healing. Trauma and sin are related terms and interwoven in our experience in this life but should not be understood as synonymous.
Working through our trauma, facing our deep hurts, and identifying our pain with all that Christ went through for us can bring release, insight, and those “Aha!” moments that help us discover how, why, and when we are most susceptible to temptation, sin, and any number of unhealthy coping mechanisms. These methods of survival and coping with our deep hurt may have once been helpful in handling our trauma… but now wall us in, trip us up, or keep us in a cycle of shame and regret. Clearly, this is not the intention of Jesus Christ, the One who came to bring us life both abundant and free! (John 10:10)
Here is the format of each day’s devotional:
Recenter: A reminder to start by slowing down, taking a few breaths, and entering into your devotional time purposefully. Practice being fully present for the short amount of time that you are giving to this Lenten practice.
Read: This one’s easy. I have included one of the daily readings from Lenten lectionary.
Reflect: Consider what you have read. Join me in my reflection on the text.
Remember: I have tried to distill the time you’ll spend during this time you are devoting to God’s Word, contemplation and prayer into a short “mantra”—a short phrase that is easily remembered and repeated throughout the day as a handle to carry the lessons you learn with you.
Other passages for contemplation: The daily lectionary for Lent (Year A) gives additional passages for reading and reflection each day. They are referenced at the end of each daily devotional, should you want to expand your time in the Word.
There are two other features of the devotional…
Space for Journaling or notes: On Sundays you are given space to make notes and record your reflections from the message you hear in worship. For other days of the week, I wanted to provide enough space in this devotional for you to jot some notes and make references to any insights you might have along the way.
Praying the Psalms of Lent: I have included the Psalms in a section together for those that might wish to make a practice of praying the Psalms during Lent, perhaps reading aloud a Psalm or two as a prayer during a quick 10-minute break at work or at some other point of the day.
If you like to journal, you'll probably want to order the paperback version. An eBook/Kindle version is available as well.
If there are pastors reading this that would like to order copies for their congregation, please contact me at haughee-at-gmail.com and I can arrange a bulk order for you at a heavily discounted rate.
Here's the link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Traumat...ional/dp/B0BSWM6HG6/
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