Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence - Softcover

Taylor, Lorraine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1638146322 ISBN 13: 9781638146322

Publisher: Covenant Books, 2021

Synopsis

Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence will help those who have suffered trauma to

• receive God's love as the key to releasing shame, rejection and hurts of the past;
• replace self-image confusion with knowing their identity in Christ;
• take realistic steps in learning to make disciplined choices;
• replace out-of-control behavior with spirit- empowered responses;
• replace self-defeating mindsets with confidence-producing beliefs;
• renew lost faith by nourishing it with relevant spiritual insights.

In struggling through the destabilizing emotions of despair, depression, anger, social anxiety, and DID, from the innocent girl who was abused to becoming the authentic woman she is now, Lorraine managed to overcome what she felt was an internal hell. As a woman of faith and a former masters-level rehabilitation counselor, with God's help, she developed a faith-based holistic approach that helped her move beyond her own trauma. Over the past ten years, she has been involved in supporting women affected by traumatic events-childhood abuse, partner violence, sexual abuse. Hope Rises from a Shattered Innocence inspires hope in others that they, too, can leave their past behind and step into their God-originated identities in Christ.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

3
Truth Is a Person
For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord, my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. —Psalm 86:10-12 (NIV)
This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place in which God is giving you the opportunity to look only to him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn longsuffering, gentleness, meekness—in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ himself has poured out on all of us. —Elisabeth Elliot
Sometimes life is so hard you can only do the next thing. Whatever, that is just do the next thing. God will meet you there. —Elisabeth Elliot
In our journey's ebb and flow, we must learn how to navigate challenging obstacles, barriers, roadblocks, and trenches. We must learn to cope with these and the challenging events that happen to us—trauma, abuses, losses, injuries, mental illness, sickness, death of loved ones, etc. The first word in that sentence is trauma.
Trauma is a horrid whirlwind that shattered, annihilated, and destroyed my ability to feel safe, trust, and to accept love, even God's. The good news is that no trauma, no storm, no trial, no mental illness, and no person can or will ever separate you or me from God's Love. There is nothing that can ever separate us from God's love.
There is nothing from the past, no force, no doubting, no questioning, no mistake, no regret, no mental illness that will ever keep us from the love of God. The harsh adversities we experience now or in the future will never remove God's love.
Scripture encourages us to place our confidence in receiving God's love. It is in the sacred dwelling and fellowship in this place of love where we receive forgiveness, mercy, and: No: in all these things, we are completely victorious through the one who loved us. I am persuaded, you see, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the present, nor the future, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in King Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39 KNT)
In the natural, when the darkness of storm clouds dissipates and the sun peaks through the haze and we see the colors of a rainbow, we are reminded of God's love. As the strange events clatter and clang into our now, we find ourselves in dark places, beyond our capacity to cope; you and I need to remind ourselves God's love will be our firm foundation that grounds.
When you and I face challenging obstacles, we discover in Christ we are granted full provision. We are entirely and sufficiently supplied with all we need. We have everything necessary to live as the kingdom people. When we press in and draw upon the divine power in Christ's love, grace is granted. God has bestowed upon us, through his divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness, through these things, his precious and wonderful promises; and the purpose of all this is so that you may run away from the corruption of lust that is in the world, and may become partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3 (KNT)
In the light of day, when we respond to his invitation to come, we find a gentle savior who cares for each one, no exceptions. We discover a Lord who places within us a yearning for his love that never grows old.
Rebuilding a life on truth and love is possible.
Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future I, will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now! —Elisabeth Elliot
We can learn to rebuild our lives upon his love as our foundation. Hope becomes tethered and cradled by our Lord's lavish and luxurious forever love. His eternal love enters into all we experience, good and bad, the purity of the Father's heart embracing us right where we are, holding us ever near, even in mental illness.
We discover we can learn to place the smallest seed of trust in his spirit to be a strength that provides resilience and capacity beyond our own. Real life originates in Christ, and it is only when you and I yield our weary soul to his fullness we find real life. The potential of God in me, you, and we as a community of saints are the opportunities and possibilities that lay before us today. Today is the day of endless prospects. Today is the day where hope inspires a journey in becoming transformed. Today is the day hope sparks endless possibilities. Today is the beginning of digging deeper into this love, whose life moves us from the old to the new.
The road of God's potential in you and me lies in our love union in Christ. We begin to travel in the new creations as humans the day we receive his love. The journey he desires to take each one of us on is an incredible, surprising, and astounding lifelong adventurous one. This narrow road of redemption we travel has ups and downs, roller-coaster rides, steep hills, hidden valleys, water-filled gullies, and raging rivers.
Faith is lived in the practical, in the real, and in these cycles and seasons where Jesus promised to begin, perform, and complete his masterful work of art. He is crafting and forming us into radical beings who live from Christ's supplied life, renewed from the inside-out.
He who began a good work—saving you and I and transforming us nearer to likeness in Jesus—is he who will faithfully complete that work, just as he promised. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (Philippians 1:6 MSG)
Whenever the grace of God works effectually in a man's inner nature, his nervous system is altered, and the external world takes on a new guise. Why? Because he has a new disposition, he is a 'new creature,' and he will begin to see things differently. —Truth & Grace: A Holy Pursuit, Oswald Chambers
Jesus is faithful to create beauty from the ashes and messes of life The truth is Jesus, as the master artist, wants to paint beauty from the shattered ashes of our history. Jesus desires to color our world in wonder from the debris and messes. He will perform his highest miracle in revealing his love for each one who asks, regardless of our past.
God's authenticity rises in life's darkest seasons and in the adversities, regrets, and shattering of our lives; he is faithful to do all he promised. For the Lord is good, and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5 (NIV)
Light in brokenness
In the cracking, breaking, and shattering is where you, I, and we together as the people of God discover a love that lasts. It is in the shadows of pain and suffering; there remains a power that stretches and transforms. God's holy being is far-reaching, and his love is amply sufficient to transform you and me from what trauma did to us to our true identity as Christ-ones.
When we live from Christ as our no-lack supplier of love as our starting place and origin of help, we have an infinite reserve assisting us to leave our past behind. Accepting this invitation in continually receiving his love is our role. Christ will caringly and compassionately grasp hold of you and me, never relinquishing his grip upon us as his beloved, just as he promised.
The Lord is our Good Shepherd, hovering, leading, carrying, and embracing each one in his constant pursuit. Jesus loves you and me right where we are and just as we are at this moment. He wants to lead each one of us into the greenest pastures, velvety meadows, and beside quiet pools of water.
Pages 43-47

Edition details

• Publisher: Covenant Books
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1638146322
• ISBN 13: 9781638146322
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 194