Mindset shift #3: Realize the path to peace is often paved in baby steps
Sometimes the storms we endure move fast. But sometimes they require a longer road to healing. Recently a Christian neuropsychologist addressed this with a friend of mine in a way that I think is profound. She has dealt her whole adult life with the mental health consequences of childhood sexual and emotional trauma, and she was going through a particularly rough patch at the moment.
The doctor basically said, and I’m paraphrasing, that someone with a trauma background should be living life in “bite-sized pieces.” I think that advice is helpful for anyone who wrestles with finding peace in the storm. While the principle of trusting God with the future is good, it can also be overwhelming. We may wonder, as my friend did, How can I trust God with the storms in my future? This Christian neuropsychologist recommended simply looking at each anxiety-inducing thing individually. What’s coming up TODAY that we need to trust God with?
Because when we trust God one-by-one with the immediate things, trusting God with the bigger picture will get easier.
I could almost hear my friend exhale. “That means on a night when I’m feeling especially scared, all I have to do is trust God to get me through the night,” she told me. “That made a lot of sense to me. That’s something I think I can do.”
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