From Trauma to Triumph
How God Met Me When My Hope Felt Lost
By Lisa Elliott
I was feeling the effects of 2024. It had been quite a year; full of transition, tears, and trauma. Or, at least that’s the way I was looking at it. Typically, known for being a cup-half-full kind of girl, suddenly all I seemed to be able to see was my cup-half-empty.
Somewhere along the way, I had lost my hope. Or perhaps, I had simply misplaced it. Rather than focusing on the God of hope, I was putting my hope in circumstances and people. My thinking was skewed and my perspective warped.
The apostle Paul says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (Jas. 1:2). Nonetheless, as I considered all we’d been through, it was hard to be very joyful about the year coming to a close. Much less, be very hopeful about the year ahead. I identified with what the Israelites must have felt when they were encamped between the Egyptian army in hot pursuit behind them and the daunting Red Sea ahead of them.
Reflecting on a Challenging Year
My husband and I had a good discussion about it all one day as we approached the new year. We went for a long winter’s walk and I humbly disclosed my self-doubts in lieu of the past as well as my fears, anxieties, and uncertainties of the future that lay ominously ahead.
When he asked me what word I would use to describe 2024. I used the word “trauma.” He understood. Thankfully, he knew me too well to leave me in my “woe is me” downward spiral state. We decided to warm up with a hot drink at a favorite coffee shop in town. Then, together we walked through the entire year. Month by month we listed the events that took place to give context to my negative and emotional response to each one.
A Series of Life-Altering Events
Our year began with a retirement announcement which, if I’m honest, created some sadness and disappointment in our ministry realm. In February, we welcomed our newest grandson into the family. However, all did not go quite as planned when our daughter-in-law ended up in the ICU for a couple of weeks, calling upon me to offer care, I gladly gave. March had us responding to an S.O.S. call from our youngest daughter at the scene of an accident she’d been involved in. Someone coming at her, from the other direction on the highway, had fallen asleep at the wheel and came close to hitting her head on. April presented us with the slew of emotion that came with the culmination of forty-one years in pastoral ministry. May, June, and July had us decluttering and sorting and packing and readying ourselves for a big move. After months of upheaval, in August we headed down the highway for our seven hour trek. Half way to our destination, our moving truck landed on a soft shoulder that gave way and the truck landed on its side in a ditch.
It all seemed to go all downhill from there. September to December presented all kinds of troubling ways to bury me beneath the weight of it all. Yes, there were “trials of many kinds.” However, the most troubling of them all was that I felt trapped by them.
Finding God in the Midst of Trials
As we talked, my husband patiently and graciously listened before correcting and redirecting my thinking to help me find a different perspective—a more positive one. He challenged me to turn my thinking from trauma to triumph. Rather than looking at the events, he guided me to look for God in each situation. As I reconsidered each traumatic event it became evident to me that “God [was] our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). He showed up in profound ways to: protect, rescue, guide, provide, and remind us of His love, care, and personal attention to the details of our lives.
It occurred to me that without trials in our life, we can’t fully receive nor appreciate God’s comfort, as Paul speaks of in 2 Cor. 1:2-4. In verse 9, Paul goes on to give me the perspective I needed, “Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.”
Anchoring My Hope in Christ
And this is where my word for 2025 came in. On Him I have set my Hope.
Have you lost hope? Could you use a change of perspective? Let this, my prayer entering into 2025, be yours today, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).
Lisa Elliott is a speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. In addition to 40 years as a pastor’s wife, she continues to touch hearts through her ministry, “Straight from the Heart.” Since the death of their son, she and her husband also have a ministry to the grieving including conducting retreats for grieving parents. She is a mother of four, Nana to six and lives in Ontario, Canada. Visit her at: lisaelliottstraightfromtheheart.wordpress.com.
Read:
Psalm 46:1. Where have you seen God show up as your refuge or strength during a difficult season—especially in ways you may not have noticed at first?
2 Corinthians 1:3–4. How has God met you with comfort in your trials, and how might He be inviting you to extend that same comfort to someone else?
Reflect:
When you look back on a challenging season, do you tend to focus more on the pain or on God’s presence within it? What might change if you intentionally looked for Him in each moment?
What does it look like for you—practically and spiritually—to anchor your hope in Christ rather than in circumstances or people?
Pray:
God of hope, I confess that there are times I allow my circumstances to shape my perspective more than Your truth. Help me to see You clearly in the middle of my trials and to trust that You are at work—even when the road feels uncertain. Anchor my hope in You alone, and fill my heart with Your joy and peace. Amen.
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