Healing the Wounds of Trauma

From time to time, repeat what you think the person has said. This will give the person a chance to correct, restate, or affirm your understanding. If people become very distressed talking about their experience, it’s not helpful to continue. Let them take a break, think about other things, and get calm inside. They can resume telling their story when they feel ready. If the person remembers dreams, encourage him to talk about them, and what he thinks they mean. This may be their inner self working through the event while they are asleep, or it may also be God speaking to them in their pain (Job 33.13–18). The meaning of dreams can be symbolic and needs to be interpreted (Gn 37.5–8). The things that happen in dreams should not be taken as if they occurred in real life. Commit any distressing dreams to the Lord in prayer (Dn 2.20–22). When the person is ready, pray for him or her. Eventually, people need to bring their pain to the Lord themselves, but it may take time for them to be ready to do so.

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How Can the Wounds of Our Hearts Be Healed?