As injured vets return home, congregations reach out

If you don't understand how important it is for veterans to also have spiritual healing, then you don't understand that the "traumatic" part of the term is related to the soul. Trauma is Greek for wound. Not just a physical wound, but a wound that cuts deeper than flesh.

Humans walk away after a traumatic event one of two ways. Either God spared them and they are lucky/blessed to be alive, or, God judged them and sent the event to them. Once they believe that, the door is wide open for PTSD to hit them hard. Believing they are "unforgivable" eats away at them and most of the time they cannot forgive themselves. We can tell them they have nothing to be forgiven for, but that does little good to them.

They need to know they were not meant to suffer for what they did. After all, their reasons for joining the military were not selfish ones but they forget that part. They were willing to die for their friends, nothing selfish there either, but they forget that part. They hang onto all the painful memories because that is what has the most power.

Confused? Think of it this way. When you read a news report and there is a story about something good going on, then read about something horrible, which one do you remember the most? Which one gets you emotionally involved? Which one has more power over you? The terrible one does. It is the same with combat memories. They are not haunted by nutty things they did with their buddies. They are not haunted by the lives they did save. They are grieving over all the bad things that happened.

The feelings they have about deserving nothing good is enforced when the suffer back home. When no one wants to talk to them about where they've been pretending they just got back from an extended vacation. When the DOD and the VA won't take care of them, they can't find jobs, their families kick them out and girlfriends walk away. All that happens when they come home pulls them further away from whatever faith beliefs they had and further away from part of who they were.

They need spiritual healing more than anything else. This is one of the reasons I am with Point Man Ministries They have been helping veterans heal their souls since the 80's and yes, the connection between soldier and soul was made way back then.

It is about time more and more congregations stepped up!

As injured vets return home, congregations reach out

By G. Jeffrey Macdonald
Religion News Service, Published: November 9

NEWTON, Mass. — Some wounds of war are all too visible — a missing leg, a shattered arm. The invisible wounds of mind and soul are often more difficult to spot, and equally hard to treat.

But those who know where to look can help them heal, and it’s a message that is hitting home for U.S. congregations as more than 1.35 million veterans adjust to civilian life after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affecting an estimated one-in-six returning service members, congregations are coming face-to-face with the tolls of war. Experts say faith groups have much to offer, even when the wounds include PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

“Churches are kind of in the dark about how to help, unfortunately,” said Peter Bauer, an ordained minister and clinical social worker with the Veterans Administration in San Antonio. “But they don’t have to stay there. There are some very easy things that churches can do to be proactive and help with this population.”
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