All of us want to find hope when life throws us into a stormy season. Without hope, what keeps us motivated to move forward?
Recovering from abuse is TOUGH and it’s easy for our hearts to feel weighed down. The healing journey can seem to take forever!
Here are 7 ways to find hope while healing from trauma:
1. Create a Vision Board
A vision board is a daily and visual reminder of your hopes, dreams and goals. If you have forgotten your dreams, now’s a perfect time to rekindle them!
God encourages us to have a vision and to trust Him with our future. A vision keeps you focused, gives you a target to aim for and gives you something to look forward to.
What dreams has God given you? How can you partner with Him to accomplish them? To learn more about partnering with God while healing click here.
Vision boards are easy to create. Grab some poster board and pictures from magazines or draw them yourself. You can also use any other accessories that mean something to you. Then start creating!
2. Connect with Other Survivors
Connecting with other survivors creates community and an opportunity for you to learn from others who are in a similar season. You may also make new friends!
I found a lot of hope and reassurance in the encouragement and inspiration from other survivors.
3. Journalling
Journalling is a great way to connect with yourself again. Take the worries, fears, hopes and dreams swirling around in your heart and head, and put them onto paper instead.
Doing so may help with anxiety, depression or sleeping issues you may have. It did for me!
Journalling is a great method for tracking your progress. You can find hope in visually seeing how far you have come.
Don’t forget to journal your prayers and what God is speaking to you.
4. Try New Things
Part of rebuilding yourself is reinventing yourself. Trying new things makes you feel like you are moving forward, discovering yourself and growing as a person.
Take a class, join a hobby group, go on a trip, join a Bible study etc. Discover what you like and don’t like again. Start living life again and not just surviving it.
Start living life again and not just surviving it.
5. Attend Counselling or Therapy
With recovery comes a suitcase of feelings, emotions and memories. Working with a counsellor helps you release your feelings and fears. Let someone guide you on this journey until you feel strong enough to tackle it independently.
A counsellor will also help you learn more coping skills, work through deep seeded beliefs, manage any mental illness you may struggle with and add more tools to your wellness “toolbox.”
Counselling helped me feel less alone. My counsellor supported me in unpacking the belief that I wasn’t normal. Going through trauma made me believe I was alone in my experience and like I was an outcast, especially in the Christian community.
Trauma is a tricky beast and we all heal differently and at different rates. I encourage you to seek out a professional to walk alongside you.
You can’t heal in isolation.
6. Learn Who God is and Connect with Him
We heal from trauma when we know our identity in Christ. This involves learning who God is and who you are in Him.
When you know who God is, you understand how good He is, that He is a loving father and has a good future for you. We can trust and find hope in His never-changing character and promises.
It’s normal to feel fear and hopelessness at times. However, knowing your Father creates a strong foundation of hope, trust and love between you and Him. What greater hope is there other than to know your creator has your back!
On the days you feel you have taken steps back, practice leaning on Him, instead of falling into despair. Learn to hear His voice. He will heal you deeper than anyone else ever could.
7. Take Your Power Back
Taking back power that was given to someone else (often unknowingly!) looks different for every person.
For me, taking back my power involved a sweater.
When I was in an abusive marriage, I wanted a Lululemon sweater but never could buy one. Shortly after I left the relationship I went to buy that sweater. I returned to my car and sobbed because I was overwhelmed by the freedom to CHOOSE and to do something I’d been waiting to do.
What is something you wanted to do, but your abusive partner stopped you from doing it?
Do that.
Empowerment gives you hope that you can live the life you want. You will feel less stuck, and more like you!
Share this article with other survivors, family and friends to help us raise awareness of domestic violence and educate the church (links at the top of the page).
We are stronger together.
He is faithful,
