Welcome to From Hardship to Hope—the podcast for Christian women navigating the intersection of motherhood, mental health, and matters of faith.
Recommended resource
Journey to Heal: Seven Essential Steps of Recovery for Childhood Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Show Notes
Do you long for hope amid mental, emotional, or relational struggles?
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Join life coach,
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author,
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and trauma survivor Tammy Kennington on From Hardship to Hope,
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the podcast for Christian women navigating the intersection of motherhood,
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mental health,
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and matters of faith.
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If you need biblical support, encouragement, and actionable tips, this show is for you.
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In today's episode, we'll discuss King David's trauma and what it has to do with you.
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I grew up with a giant in my life.
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He represents the trauma that's tracked my steps from childhood into adulthood.
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And I'm guessing that if you've suffered abuse,
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whether as a child or adult,
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that you too have a giant or two of your own.
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My giant,
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as I said,
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was my stepfather,
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a six-foot-four former Marine with a tattoo of a bulldog on his upper arm.
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and a handlebar mustache.
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Prone to drunkenness,
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he would crash through the door of our trailer,
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shouting curses and swearing and asking,
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where are those kids?
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I never wanted to be their father anyway.
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You see,
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my stepfather had adopted my brother and I shortly after my parents divorced and my
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mom remarried.
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And it wasn't long before his true colors showed, before carousing became
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a regular habit.
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And beatings became part of what my brother and I witnessed night upon night as our
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mother cowered on the floor,
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battered and bruised.
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But not only that, this stepfather threatened us with violence and we feared him greatly.
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And he would sneak into my bedroom night after night and commit unholy acts
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Well, this giant of mine and the giants in your lives will stand in front of God.
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They will face him and there will be justice,
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whether or not it happens here on this earth or in the world that's to come.
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But this story always reminds me,
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my story reminds me a bit of David and Goliath because I was just this young child
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and teen
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trying to stand up to a giant in whose presence I absolutely crouched in fear.
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He twisted my stomach in knots.
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I'm guessing you probably experienced that.
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And I struggled between loving and hating him.
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I wanted to love him because he was the man representing fatherhood in my life.
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But at the same time, he did horrible things.
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It was so confusing.
And this giant, Goliath, was almost 10 feet tall, larger than life.
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And David was just a pubescent boy going to the battlefield, intending to give his brothers food.
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But instead, he ended up fighting this man, going against Goliath, because Goliath had mocked God.
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He had mocked the Israelite troops.
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David was intent upon becoming a victor,
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he wasn't going to allow the giant in his life to have victory over those who
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believed in the Lord.
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And that's how I like to look at my trauma.
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You see, for the longest time, I held God responsible for the unholy acts of an unholy man.
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And I know just like Goliath,
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My stepfather did not hold either men or women or children in any sort of regard,
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and he certainly didn't have any regard for the Lord or fear of him.
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But I refuse to give the enemy the ability to shut off any opportunity for
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spiritual relationship with my father in heaven because of the sin committed
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against me at the hands of that giant.
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So we as survivors have a battlefield of our own and we can make a decision.
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Are we going to agree with the enemy that God is incapable of moving,
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that the enemy is greater than the one who sits in heaven?
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We know the truth.
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He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world.
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This leads me to
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a story of the 12 disciples and Jesus.
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They too struggled with Christ's identity.
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They struggled to understand his goodness,
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his mercy,
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his love,
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his compassion,
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even though they witnessed healing miracle upon healing miracle,
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the lame walking,
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the blind seeing,
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the dead rising.
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One day Jesus turned to his disciples and asked them, who do you say that I am?
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Some of them responded, some say you're Elijah.
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Some say John the Baptist.
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And again, he said, Who do you say that I am?
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And Simon Peter looked at him and said, you are Jesus Christ, the Lord.
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He knew Jesus was the Messiah.
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And that is the same person who has loved us from the beginning of our lives and
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even before,
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from the time of our conception.
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And he does have good things planned for us.
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So when we can hold to who Christ's true identity is,
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refute the lies of the enemy,
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then we'll start to tear down that giant in our lives.
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The giant represented by one or more individuals.
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who thrust all of that trauma into our lives we can conquer because you see god is
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not a God with a little g he is a God who is all-powerful, almighty, and who is able
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to do anything that we ask or imagine—even more than we ask or imagine.
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I sometimes wonder if David's trauma drove him to his knees.
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Not only did he have this battle in which he conquered the giant, but he was the least of his family.
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He was the shepherd boy who was discarded as not being important enough to summon
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when the priest Samuel came to anoint one of the young men as king.
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He was overlooked.
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He suffered as a refugee.
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He suffered as he ran from Saul, his enemy, who wanted to kill him for years.
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He hid in caves.
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He was in battle upon battle.
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He was distraught when one of his sons, Amnon, sexually assaulted his daughter, Tamar.
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He suffered and grieved the loss of three sons,
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an infant,
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Amnon,
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and the brother who killed him,
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Absalom.
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He rescued two wives from kidnapping.
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David's life was littered with trauma.
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But we can see in Scripture,
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particularly in the Psalms,
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that David,
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who's known as the “man after God's heart”,
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turned to God in every situation of his life.
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He shared his despair, his depression, his discouragement.
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He praised God.
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despite it all, and is just an incredible model of hope for us.
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Not only that, but God weaved hope throughout David's life.
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For someone who went from shepherd to king, rags to riches, there was a lot of suffering.
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But that suffering was also accompanied by great joy.
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That's the odd thing about life.
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We can have joy and suffering
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and one doesn't negate the other.
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But the two-bit shepherd received a holy blessing, an anointing as king.
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God promised him an eternal home.
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And we see David's reflection on that in Psalm 23.
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God also comforted him with his presence.
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He comforted him with a wise wife named Abigail.
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God surrounded him with children.
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So like David,
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I don't want to miss God's mercy,
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his love for me,
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because I can see when I step back from the quilt of my life,
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I can see those threads of hope woven throughout.
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And some of them shimmer less brightly than others.
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Some
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are difficult to see, and I have to peer closely.
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But if I think about it,
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I remember the pastor who spoke encouragement into my life,
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the basketball coach who believed that I could do good things,
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that I could accomplish,
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not because I was a good athlete,
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because I really wasn't,
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but because he cared about kids.
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He put an English teacher in my life who knew me from the time I was a little girl
and who told me that I could do things with my writing.
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She believed in me.
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God placed people in my life to speak hope into my heart, to speak truth about who Christ is.
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And I wonder who those people were in your life.
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Where were those threads of hope that you experienced?
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We know that
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that trauma leads to a broken heart.
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And scripture tells us that God is close to the brokenhearted, that he binds up our wounds.
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And that's where we can find our greatest comfort.
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When we turn to him like David did,
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we can see so much transformation in everything from our health to our heart to
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to our emotional security, to our eternal salvation.
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So that's my encouragement to you today.
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Not only that you would take your big T trauma to the Lord,
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but those smaller traumas that now follow behind,
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the depression,
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the shame,
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the self-loathing,
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the fear,
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the anxiety,
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all of those things that are smaller representations
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of the larger giant in our lives, the smaller giants that track our steps.
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We can take those to our Father who is able to sanctify,
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to alter and transform and radically change that which the enemy intended for evil
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and turn it to good.
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I'd like to let you know about one wonderful resource written by a woman named Crystal Sutherland.
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It's called The Journey to Heal, Seven Essential Steps of Recovery.
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And I'll link to it in our show notes.
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And for your actionable tip today, I recommend you create a self-care kit.
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I found some great photo boxes at Hobby Lobby.
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They're really pretty, but you could choose a storage box, a shoe box, anything that you want.
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And in that box, in that
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Self-care kit,
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you can include things such as notes from people who love you,
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pictures of people that are meaningful,
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events that were meaningful to you,
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things that will encourage your heart,
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favorite scriptures.
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You could create a list of your favorite healing worship songs,
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perhaps a journal for journaling when you're struggling with all the emotions that
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come with surviving trauma.
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Maybe some chocolate because that can boost serotonin.
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So many different things you can include in a self-care kit.
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I'll create a list and post it as a downloadable for you in these show notes.
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But this week,
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why don't you run to the store,
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go to your Hobby Lobby or dig in your closet,
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find a box and start collecting things that will be an encouragement to you.
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when you're struggling with the smaller giants that are left from that trauma.
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And today, if I could just end with a prayer for you.
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Father, we come to you today struggling with all of the giants of our past, Lord.
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God, we know that you can enable us to conquer the giant just as you enabled David.
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And even though our giant may no longer be in front of us,
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Father, we ask for spiritual healing.
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We ask for a spiritual conquering.
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Lord,
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we ask for healing in all of the wounded places of our heart and soul and mind,
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that you,
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Lord,
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would soothe us with the balm of Gilead,
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that your presence would calm us,
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and that we would turn to you.
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We would not allow the enemy to have a final victory,
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but we would cling to the identity of who you are,
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a good God,
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who sent his son,
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Lord,
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to sacrifice his life for ours,
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that we might have eternal and abundant joy and peace in the kingdom to come.
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Because we know on that day when we enter your presence once and for all,
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that you will wipe away every tear from our eyes and these things will all fade.
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So, Lord, we just come to you asking for your mercy today.
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I pray your blessing for each woman listening.
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In your name we pray.
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Amen.
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Thank you so much for listening to From Hardship to Hope.
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You can find the show notes for this episode, including links at TammyKennington.substack.
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And if this show was an encouragement to you or you believe it will encourage
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someone else,
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would you share it?
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And while you're at it, why not subscribe?
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I look forward to seeing you in two weeks.
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Peace and grace to you.
14:53 So thank you so much for listening to From Hardship to Hope.
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You can find the show notes for this episode, including links at TammyKennington.substack.
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And if this show was an encouragement to you or you believe it will encourage
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someone else,
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would you share it?
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And while you're at it, why not subscribe?
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Peace and grace to you.
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If you missed the first podcast episode, Hope for Those Who Live with PTSD/CPTSD, you can find it here.
