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An Abundant-Life Mindset
Relief from trauma doesn’t come by pursuing relief. It comes by pursuing an abundant life. Abundant living focuses on the uncreated, incorruptible, indestructible, eternal life found in God.
Pursuing an abundant life isn’t about claiming a promise of health or wealth. It is about finding purpose and meaning in the life God has given you. It is about discovering a life worth living in the one you already have, as beaten-up and bruised as it may appear.
An abundant-life mindset recognizes that no relationship, hobby, drug, or drink will truly satisfy. It knows that, as Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” Later in John, Jesus tells his disciples that only in him will their joy be complete (see John 16:22-24).
An abundant-life mindset exposes the thieves that seek to steal our joy and thwart our purpose. Figuratively speaking, thieves are painkillers that claim to offer relief but don’t deliver. They are like false teachers and charlatans. Rather than give, they manipulate and steal. Rather than build up, they destroy. They’ll take your money, time, freedom, love, and energy and then sneak out the back door in the middle of the night. They offer you an anvil when you’re frantically searching for a parachute.
Jesus says that these con artists ultimately bring death, not life.
Rather than chasing a feeling of temporary relief, people with an abundant-life mindset focus on the endless opportunities available to them, in spite of their past trauma. When you stop running, you slow down long enough to let yourself thaw from the freeze response and rediscover a life worth living. And let us tell you, life is worth living after trauma.
Possibilities are open to you, even now, while you are still suffering. Even now, relief is available to you while you are still struggling. Your future is too valuable, too powerful, and too important for you to miss out on it by running and numbing. Abundant life awaits.
How have you tried to outrun the effects of trauma in your life? What was the result?
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About this Plan
Often we condemn ourselves for pain in our past or present. We feel guilty for not getting over it more quickly. We assume someone else would have handled it better. But trauma will remain empowered to hurt us as long as we deny its existence. The truth is, you aren’t failing at healing. You’re finding healing. God is a God of restoration. And this is just the beginning.
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