By Martha Bush

In Part 1 last week, I referred to the woman who was all bent over with arthritis and came to Jesus for healing. (Luke 13:10-13) I included a revelation an aspiring author received from this scripture who described herself as feeling all bent over, not with arthritis, but because she did not understand her Identity in Christ. As a result, she almost didn’t write the book God had called her to write. Thankfully, she came to know who she was in Christ, and wrote the book.

Yes, God has a purpose for us to fulfill in different seasons of our lives, according to Psalm 139:16. However, the devil tries to destroy our identity to keep us from fulfilling that purpose. Unfortunately, he often starts his schemes in childhood when we are innocent children.

Our own Lynn Donovan describes it this way: The devil creates trauma early in the life of a child. When trauma happens, it creates pain in his soul realm. We were not designed to endure trauma; God designed us for love and goodness. But from the traumatic event, the child begins to believe lies from the devil, such as “I am not loved; I am afraid. Eventually bitterness builds up in his spirit realm, thus causing his identity in Christ to be diverted." (Paraphrased)

Without going into specific details, I want to share about an event I experienced in childhood that caused tremendous trauma in my life. The traumatic event wasn’t sexual or physical abuse, nor did it have anything to do with my parents. (Thank you, Jesus) But, traumatic is whatever is traumatic for you at any age and is twice as bad in childhood because of a child’s perception of it.

When the event happened, I made decisions about it based on my childlike understanding and wisdom. Being a child who wanted to keep peace at all extremes, I chose to keep it a secret. The emotional, mental, physical, psychological, and spiritual effects of it went with me into adulthood. 

I didn’t realize the toll it had taken on me until the Lord nudged me with a new direction to leave my job as a schoolteacher. I had planned to teach until I retired, but after a time of counseling and confirmation, I decided to follow God’s direction. 

And that is when the devil showed up with his lies and accusations.

• You didn’t hear the voice of God!
• This is the wrong time to leave your job; you cannot afford it.
• It’s better to keep peace and harmony.
• You’re breaking the traditional American way of life - work thirty years, retire, and then buy a motor home to tour the United States.

The longgggggg list of things he whispered in my ear and the repercussions I received after taking steps to follow the Lord was horrific. Let’s just say that he tried to destroy me in ways I would have never dreamed. In fact, I had a prophetic word that said, “The devil has sent an assignment of grief to you; it’s not the normal grief we go through after a loss; this is an assignment of grief that is meant to destroy you, but it won’t.”

Then one day----Oh, Hallelujah----all those lies the devil had whispered to me, and all the repercussions I was going through, didn’t matter anymore when the Lord told The Apostle Paul to whisper in my ear about his experience.

You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me, so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.  (Galatians 1:13-16 NLT)

Did you catch that?

GOD WANTS TO REVEAL HIS SON TO US

SO THAT WE CAN

PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS!

 And that is why it is so important, as Lynn teaches, to know Who We Are and Whose We Are so that the purpose He created us for will reveal Jesus to a lost and hurting world.

I kid you not; it was hard work exchanging Satan’s lies for the truth of God’s Word. As for the bitterness and unforgivenss that was stored up inside me, starting way back in childhood at the time of the traumatic event, God took me through a repentance process. The hard work was worth it to be able to stand up tall and walk in freedom.

***** 

My friends, if you experienced trauma in childhood or at any time in your life that has prevented you from walking in your Identity in Christ, I’d love to pray with you for healing.