If you know me at all, you know I care a great deal about missions. You also probably know how much I love Back2Back Ministries and the work they are doing all over the world. (Find out more at www.back2back.org or I’d be glad to talk to you about them any time!!) I’ve been to Mexico three times now with Back2Back and am hoping to go within the next year again. I love their approach to orphan care as well as their commitment to the Body of Christ. It’s amazing!
The last two times I have been to Mexico, Back2Back has offered Trauma Competency Care Training for those interested. Again, if you know me at all, you know how much I love to learn! They taught us about belief systems, abuse and neglect, and helped us understand how to better help the students in the children’s homes. They told us how many of the children they serve have mentally not developed because of primarily neglect, as well as abuse. But we serve an absolutely amazing God! They told us how the brain is like plastic and eventually it can change. Through a loving and caring environment and being intentional with words and actions as we work with these students, their brains have the potential to change, develop, and catch up to where they should be.
This kind of healing is not only for children who have been abused and neglected. One of my counseling professors in seminary had a guest come and speak for most of the class one week about the effects of porn on the brain. The more we are exposed to it, the more our brains desire it. Our brains actually create dendrites (if I remember right) that craves the effects porn has on the body more and more. Our brain literally changes. The crazy thing is, those dendrites, over time, start to die the more we starve them. Our brain has the potential to return from being so out of balance. We have the potential to heal.
We serve an incredible God who created us with the ability to heal. Even when others insult, hurt, abuse, or neglect us, there is hope for healing. When we hurt ourselves through harmful habits, there is hope for healing. Even when it may just happen, like a cut on our finger, it heals. God truly is the great physician!! He has created us with an incredible ability to heal, especially when others help.
It is the way God has created us to heal that is so absolutely amazing to me. Whether it’s a cut on the finger, an underdeveloped brain from years of neglect, chemically imbalanced brain due to an addiction, a broken heart, a harsh word from a friend, or anything else, God has created us with the ability to heal. It certainly takes time. It does not happen overnight. It takes intentional actions by others pouring into us.
God has created us to help each other. No one can get through life on their own. There is no stage of life we can accomplish on our own without help from others. Especially when it comes to healing, it cannot be done alone; perhaps with the exception of a small cut on our finger. We need to surround ourselves with others who speak life and Godly wisdom into our lives. We need to surround ourselves with those who encourage us and build us up. Most importantly, we need to be people who do the same for others.