RISE: From Trauma to Triumph
Anyone remember Nike’s slogan? Yep, you got it. “Just Do It.” Don’t you wish life was that easy? With the simple use of will power, you could “just do” whatever you wanted. Unfortunately, life isn’t that simple. People go through drama and trauma. Many times, those situations leave them emotionally disabled. Today, you may feel like an injured soldier who knows that you need to get over the pain of war in order to reach your desired goals. But you may feel like the pain is too deep. There’s a story in the bible that will encourage you.
Many Christians know Abraham is the “father of faith”. He stepped out into the unknown and followed God on several occasions in his life. But let’s look a little deeper into his story. Before Abraham was a spiritual rock star who had his name changed by God, he was just Abram. He was living an ordinary life with the rest of his family – until trauma was introduced. Let’s read Genesis 11:27-32:
To break it down, Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor and Haran. The bible doesn’t say exactly what happened, but it does say that Haran ends up dying in his hometown – right in front of his dad. I have two daughters and I don’t even want to imagine having one of them die (especially right in front of me). This is the definition of trauma. The bible continues with the story and tells us that Terah takes his family and moves away from his hometown. We don’t know the motives, but we can imagine that being in his hometown was a constant reminder of the death of his son. Interestingly enough, he plans to take his family to Canaan which we know to be the “promised land” in the bible. As he’s traveling, they come to a place called Haran – a place with the same name as his deceased son. Instead of moving past a place that would for certain be a painful reminder of tragedy, he decides to settle there. And then he dies there. It’s at this point where we find Abram in Genesis 12.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
At this point, Abram has experienced the death of his brother and father. He could have gotten offended with God and said, “Why did you let my brother and father die? A great nation? Why are you allowing my wife to be barren?” To our natural mind, he had so many reasons to doubt God and even hate Him. But his trust in God outweighed the weight of his trauma. And through trust, he went from trauma to triumph. I’m typing this now and you are reading this now because one man decided to jump the hurdle of trauma and succeed where his father failed.
I want to encourage you. Don’t die in “Haran”. Your family and everything you are familiar with may be there. But if you die there, then your life will only be a sacrifice to the idol of grief. Trust the Healer and live a life so blessed that generations will thank you.
#RISE
Jarrell
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