Please don't refresh this page.
We are submitting all your information.
This takes few seconds.
It will redirect after submission.
We are submitting all your information.
This takes few seconds.
It will redirect after submission.
The Israelites’ transition tunnel from enslavement in Egypt to a life of freedom on the other side took them completely by surprise. The God of their ancestors provided a way forward for them when there was no way around. And as the forbidding sea split in two, forming a wall on their left and on their right, the Israelites realized they were no longer trapped on all sides but protected on all sides. The entire nation took incredulous steps together across the untrodden sea-bed.
Throughout the course of the ten plagues on the Egyptians, the Israelites had witnessed God’s mighty hand at work. And now, in the culmination of the defeat of Pharaoh’s army there was no question that the strong-though-he-thought-he-was Pharaoh was no match against the power of the Almighty.
In the Israelites’ carefully-calculated 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God was the One who set the limits of their suffering according to His infinite wisdom. He received glory beyond glory, as He reached down in His perfect timing to rescue His people and set them on a course toward freedom.
But here, in the middle of the sea – along this unknown, uneven, and unexpected path forward – are still harmful memories from the Israelites’ past, requiring healing in their inmost beings. Did they cry out then, like we might do today from wherever we find ourselves in our own transition tunnels, for a sense of His courage-building presence within the walls of still-hard-to-believe protection?
The grip of fear is not at all easy to shake, is it? The Israelites’ hearts were still racing after the relentless pursuit of Pharoah’s army, not to mention the toll of accumulated months of emotional exhaustion from witnessing the plagues. They desperately needed, as do we in our processing, God’s anchoring peace of the present to keep a traumatic past from projecting fears into the future.
May we experience this same God who split the sea to be all that we need in the midst of our post-trauma transition tunnels, whatever they might be and however long they might last.
“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13
What have you found to be helpful in your processing of trauma?
I’ve found the book Try Softer by Aundi Kolber to be an excellent resource in working through personal trauma as well as learning how to best come alongside others in processing their trauma. Her subtitle is “A Fresh Approach to Move Us Out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode--and Into a Life of Connection and Joy.” She says, “It begins when we mindfully listen to what’s on the inside of us and let that influence how we look and act on the outside. It’s an intentional shift toward paying compassionate attention to our own experiences and needs. Learning to try softer is not a one-time event but a way we learn to be with ourselves.”