Page 117 - Biblical Counseling II-Textbook

Study Section 16: Trauma

16.1 Connect

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in the United States in July 1-3 of 1863 during the Civil
War. The following story occurred over 100 years later:
“When I was in junior high, my family took
an educational vacation to Gettysburg. We
ended our battlefield tour at a house that
was used as a surgical hospital on the day of the battle.
Outside the house, there was a huge tree, and there
was a cannonball stuck in the tree. And there was a
plaque (sign) next to the tree that said this cannonball
was shot into the tree on the day of the Gettysburg
battle, and it almost killed the tree because on the day
of the battle the cannonball was almost as wide as the
tree. Today the tree is huge, and the cannonball is
small. When these traumas come into our lives by
which Christ makes us His and clarifies who He is for us,
it’s like getting hit by a cannonball and you almost die.
You don’t know how to take the next breath. And what
happens is, by God’s grace, that cannonball becomes
part of our life. And we live with it and it changes us
forever and stays part of our life. We can’t get rid of it”
(Troup, 2016). (Photo: pinterest.com)

16.2 Objectives

1. Students should be able to define trauma.

2. Students should be able to list the five systems trauma impacts.

3. Students should be able to explain how childhood trauma impacts a person.

4. Students should be able to describe how facing trauma requires trusting in God with the future.

16.3 Trauma

What is it and how does it impact people in your community? What do think of when you hear
the word? Often the first image that comes to mind is of soldiers who have experienced a
serious traumatic situation like war. However, the dictionary has three different definitions
for trauma:

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