Post Trial Growth

A few months ago, I attended a work-related seminar on Trauma.  

 

Thou the course itself was mainly a lengthy textbook review on treating post-trauma symptoms, the speaker stopped to share some of their latest findings, one of which really caught my attention.  

 

Experts call it Post Trauma Growth, I call it Post Trial Growth.  

 

While continuously studying trauma victims, they discovered that most "post-trauma" individuals underwent somewhat of a transformation.  

 

Thou these individuals have encountered deeply disturbing and stressful experiences, as a result, they turned out to be better people than they were before.  

Most report a newfound appreciation for life, and a better understanding of how to live. They claim becoming more “people” centered rather than “me” centered, with a new focus on helping others.  

 

And most astounding for me was the newfound understanding of the spiritual world. They report a deeper sense of connection with God and stronger faith than before. 

 

These are secular studies, meaning, the analysis of experts without religious or spiritual backgrounds.   

 

Yet this has been one of the chore messages of the Bible.  

Seasons of pain and immense suffering are periods of transformation and refinement of the heart.

I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. (Isa. 48:10 NLT)

 

And... 

 

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you...(1 Pe. 4:12 NLT) 

 

In other words, do not be surprised about the stressful and trying circumstances you may come across.

 

Just maybe, God foresaw you develop:

• A deeper sense of himself 

• A newfound understanding and connection to him

• A greater appreciation of life itself

• Compassion and a stronger awareness of the needs of others…. 

Therefore, allowed the trials you currently face.

Supporting Text

No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. (Heb. 12:11 NLT)

...for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.(Ecc. 7:3 KJV) 

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. (1 Pe. 4:1)

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.  (Ps. 119:71)