Tags
Aurora, counseling, David, grief, healing, journaling, Psalm 52, remembering, trauma
People often want to forget the bad things that happen to them, but this is not the best course for healing from a traumatic event. Repressing memories and bottling up emotions keeps the bad stuff inside to eat away at us. Remembering is part of the grieving process and a way of letting go. We see this in memorial services. When having experienced trauma, a person must have their own memorial service. People do this in a number ways; talking to others with same or similar experiences, seeking counseling, journaling, writing poems or songs. By talking about or writing down your experiences and how they impact you, you memorialize the event and allow yourself to grieve and heal.
We see examples of this in the Bible with the Psalms of David. David memorialized his times of sorrow and trials in songs to God. In Psalm 52, David writes a song about Doeg the Edomite telling King Saul that David had received aid from Ahimelech the priest in Nob. As a result King Saul had Ahimelech murdered killing everything in Nob (1 Samuel 22). David felt he had caused the death of so many (verse 22). In the Psalm David speaks of the evil of Doeg and how God repays the evil. He finishes with praise and thanksgiving to God. The praise to God is the essential element to any healing process. By giving our sorrow and grief to the Lord, remembering that He will have final justice, and giving Him thanks for what He has done for us, provides a heart open to the Holy Spirit to work in us and heal us.