God, the Army, and PTSD
Is religion an obstacle to treatment?
Tara McKelvey
When Roger Benimoff arrived at the psychiatric building of the Coatesville, Pennsylvania veterans’ hospital, he was greeted by a message carved into a nearby tree stump: “Welcome Home.” It was a reminder that things had not turned out as he had expected.
In Faith Under Fire, a memoir about Benimoff’s life as an Army chaplain in Iraq, Benimoff and co-author Eve Conant describe his return from Iraq to his family in Colorado and subsequent assignment to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He retreated deep into himself, spending hours on the computer and racking up ten thousand dollars in debt on eBay. Above all, he was angry and jittery, scared even of his young sons, and barely able to make it through the day. He was eventually admitted to Coatesville’s “Psych Ward.” For a while the lock-down facility was his home. He wondered where God was in all of this, and was not alone in that bewilderment and pain.
In a 2004 study of approximately 1,400 Vietnam veterans, almost 90 percent Christian, researchers at Yale found that nearly one-third said the war had shaken their faith in God and that their religion no longer provided comfort for them. The Yale study found that these soldiers were more likely than others to seek mental health treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) when they came home. It was not that these veterans had unusually high confidence in government or especially good information about services at VA hospitals. Instead, they had fallen into a spiritual abyss and were desperate to find a way out. The trauma of war seems to be especially acute for men and women whose faith in a benevolent God is challenged by the carnage they have witnessed.
read more here
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.6/mckelvey.php
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Friday, November 6, 2009
God, the Army, and PTSD
The problem is not that they are Christian. It is more they forget about one is when they see the worst man can do to man. They wonder how the loving God they knew would allow all of it to go on. They wonder if their faith was in a real God or not. They question what they lived their lives believing in and this, this is the worst part of faith when they live through the evil.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
3 kids, no job — relying on God
3 kids, no job — relying on God
By Jim Stratton
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 23, 2009
FRUITLAND PARK - The faith of Charlie Thompson fills a room.
He has been jobless for seven months, can't make his mortgage payment and may lose his car. He and his wife are raising three kids — all with Down syndrome — and have already lost three others to neurological disorders.
Yet, as I sit on his couch, his daughter playing next to me, he says that, ultimately, he feels lucky, that God is protecting his family.
"Maybe that's just looking for something positive," Thompson, 53, says quietly. "But I really believe it."
A moment later, his wife, Barbara, breaks the silence.
"From our experience," she laughs, "we've learned you don't pray for patience."
It's tempting to say the recession has taught Charlie and Barbara Thompson about what really matters, but they've had a pretty good sense of that for a long time now. Married 31 years, the couple have endured enough pain for two lifetimes, yet managed to keep bitterness at bay.
They've filled their lives with children — four adopted, three biological — and faith, leaning on both when times were bad. They take little for granted.
"We had two children who never rolled over on their own," says Barbara, a fourth-generation Floridian. "So seeing these three be naughty is a treat."
"These three" are Luke, 18, Ashley, 14, and Billy, 13. Their oldest child, 30-year-old Charles Byron, is married, living in Lady Lake.
read more here
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-jobless-search-082309,0,5417699.story
By Jim Stratton
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 23, 2009
FRUITLAND PARK - The faith of Charlie Thompson fills a room.
He has been jobless for seven months, can't make his mortgage payment and may lose his car. He and his wife are raising three kids — all with Down syndrome — and have already lost three others to neurological disorders.
Yet, as I sit on his couch, his daughter playing next to me, he says that, ultimately, he feels lucky, that God is protecting his family.
"Maybe that's just looking for something positive," Thompson, 53, says quietly. "But I really believe it."
A moment later, his wife, Barbara, breaks the silence.
"From our experience," she laughs, "we've learned you don't pray for patience."
It's tempting to say the recession has taught Charlie and Barbara Thompson about what really matters, but they've had a pretty good sense of that for a long time now. Married 31 years, the couple have endured enough pain for two lifetimes, yet managed to keep bitterness at bay.
They've filled their lives with children — four adopted, three biological — and faith, leaning on both when times were bad. They take little for granted.
"We had two children who never rolled over on their own," says Barbara, a fourth-generation Floridian. "So seeing these three be naughty is a treat."
"These three" are Luke, 18, Ashley, 14, and Billy, 13. Their oldest child, 30-year-old Charles Byron, is married, living in Lady Lake.
read more here
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-jobless-search-082309,0,5417699.story
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I love God but not the church II: Wounded, but not broken
Reading this article brought to mind of why I do what I do the way I do it. Over the last couple of years, I've been trying to get the local churches involved with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to help people heal, especially our veterans. The biggest part of PTSD is the loss of faith. The problem is, no matter how hard I try, no matter how many churches I visit or talk to on the phone, they just don't want to get involved and that's a shame.
They are not serving the Children of God the way they claim they are when they turn their backs on the wounded in spirit, especially when they happen to be among the few willing to lay down their lives for the sake of others.
This quote is the headline of my website at Nam Guardian Angel. It's there for this reason alone. They never really see it this way. If Christ said this, then what is the problem with the churches when they want to ignore the price paid by so many doing exactly what Christ said was the greatest love of all?
I just did a post about Des Moines police officers, firefighters and emergency responders setting up peer support groups to help recover from what they have to do as part of their jobs. They are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of others, but the churches seem to want nothing to do with being part of their healing. National Guards and Reservist serve side by side as citizen soldiers with the military but return home to families and jobs left alone to cope with what was asked of them but again, the churches fail them. Veterans left alone years after war suffered in silence when they could have been healing but again even though we knew about PTSD after Vietnam, the churches have turned their backs on these walking wounded. Why?
Would Christ have ignored them? Would Christ have said He didn't have time for them or the staff to take care of them? Or would Christ weep again as He did for the sister of Lazarus before He raised him from the dead? I'm sure Christ would have taken all the time they needed to help them heal and restore their faith in His Loving Father.
This is one of the biggest reasons I became a Chaplain. Too many churches are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. I've talked to enough pastors and church elders witnessing their eyes glaze over as they politely send me on my way and ignore what they need to be doing for the sake of those wounded and doubting they are loved by God. How can they believe God loves them if the churches turn their backs on them?
They are not serving the Children of God the way they claim they are when they turn their backs on the wounded in spirit, especially when they happen to be among the few willing to lay down their lives for the sake of others.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
This quote is the headline of my website at Nam Guardian Angel. It's there for this reason alone. They never really see it this way. If Christ said this, then what is the problem with the churches when they want to ignore the price paid by so many doing exactly what Christ said was the greatest love of all?
I just did a post about Des Moines police officers, firefighters and emergency responders setting up peer support groups to help recover from what they have to do as part of their jobs. They are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of others, but the churches seem to want nothing to do with being part of their healing. National Guards and Reservist serve side by side as citizen soldiers with the military but return home to families and jobs left alone to cope with what was asked of them but again, the churches fail them. Veterans left alone years after war suffered in silence when they could have been healing but again even though we knew about PTSD after Vietnam, the churches have turned their backs on these walking wounded. Why?
Would Christ have ignored them? Would Christ have said He didn't have time for them or the staff to take care of them? Or would Christ weep again as He did for the sister of Lazarus before He raised him from the dead? I'm sure Christ would have taken all the time they needed to help them heal and restore their faith in His Loving Father.
This is one of the biggest reasons I became a Chaplain. Too many churches are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. I've talked to enough pastors and church elders witnessing their eyes glaze over as they politely send me on my way and ignore what they need to be doing for the sake of those wounded and doubting they are loved by God. How can they believe God loves them if the churches turn their backs on them?
I love God but not the church II: Wounded, but not broken
Carla Roberson
Newark Spirituality Examiner
July 28, 11:35 PM
Emotional hurt; we have all experienced it in our lives at one time or another. Anguish, feelings of betrayal and spiritual bruises; these words can only skim the surface of what agitates deep inside as the wounded, attempt to gather the pieces of their wilted spirits. They go on in their lives, many times bearing a significant weight of insecurity and distrust on their shoulders. They are the emotionally wounded; but they are not broken. Fret not; for we serve a God of redemption, healing and restoration. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you {1 Peter 5:7}.
The first segment of this article was written roughly a week ago, resulting from my own experiences that I encountered in visiting various churches. I have been in attendance of my own church for close to 7 years now and a member for about 2 years. Although my church is relatively large, consisting of approximately 10,000 in multitude; I have esteemed my church honorable. I am getting spiritually fed and I am always graciously enamored by members of the congregation, making me feel welcome and giving me a sense of joy. But approximately 3-4 months ago, I started feeling restless in church. I could not understand why I was feeling this way but I knew that God was up to something.
I began to visit other churches and I quickly realized that many churches were not operating the way that God would intend for them to. God instructed me to write about the churches and their erroneous ways. It was then, that I recognized that being a part of my own church was a blessing. I knew that I was extremely fortunate to be a member of an organization intricately designed and operated by the Lord. My own church, an imperative element in God’s purpose has proved to be a significant component as a result of my observation; by which God desires to pour out His spirit.
read more hereI love God but not the church II
Friday, December 19, 2008
PTSD Is Not God's Judgment but is it your's
I've made a lot of videos on PTSD, but this video shocked me after. While it was intended for combat veterans after listening to them all these years, it has been used to help police officers and firefighters. It came after many arguments with myself and what I believed God wanted me to do. I kept finding reasons to not make it.
One of the veterans I had been trying to help had emailed me one morning. When I responded to his comment about God forgiving him, I knew I had to do the video.
What I have to deal with now is the fact I had to stop trying to help someone that had become a friend. He was at the angry stage, pushing me away and not listening. The fight had gone out of him and he was blaming everyone. Not that I can blame him. He lost everything. He couldn't get his claim approved. He couldn't get into treatment because he couldn't get his claim approved. Although it was a legitimate claim, he just couldn't get it approved.
He was involved in this
This happened in May of 1975, while most people in this country simply assume the deaths due to Vietnam stopped in 1973. If you look at the Vietnam Memorial, you'll see the year 1975. Before this veteran contacted me, I thought the last two Marines had died in April of 1975. Even I didn't remember this.
When the veteran sought help, some people didn't believe him. Some said he was not a real veteran because, after all, it ended in 1973.
I tried to send him help, help I knew I could not give him but he had become unable to trust anyone. It was not his fault. He had been conditioned to not being able to trust other people. Most of us reach a point in our lives when we get our hopes up that someone will finally help us, then break down when we discover people are really great at promising things they never do. It's almost as if once the conversation ends, they never think of us again. (It happens to me all the time.) Well, he was left with a boat load of crashed hopes and buckets filled with excuses. The fight had gone out of him.
The stress I was under was added to by my frustration with myself. No matter what I did or how many people I contacted, no one could help him. I was having nightmares about my failures and crying way too much. It was affecting everything else I did. I knew I could do no more for him and had to force him to fight for himself. While I still hold him in my heart and pray for him, we have not been in contact for months. I have no idea what happened to him and that breaks my heart all over again. I just couldn't go on failing him.
There is only so much I can do. My end of all of this is to provide education of what PTSD is and offer what little support I can give. I cannot diagnose or treat them beyond my own abilities and sometimes the veterans come to me expecting a lot more than I can give. There was something about this veteran that I broke my own rules about getting attached and I contacted everyone I knew to help him because I knew it was beyond what I could do. That's the most frustrating thing about all of this for anyone trying to help.
If the VA would honor the claims when they are presented since the vast majority of them are legitimate ones, it would go a long way of saving the veterans lives, their families and actually proving this country is grateful for their service by accepting responsibility for the wounds they carry.
While the veteran I was trying to help wanted to give up in less than a year of fighting, he didn't want to hear that we had to fight to have my husband's claim approved for six years. One of my husband's friends took 19 years. No one wants to hear that someday the claim will be approved when they are suffering and trying to survive. While it may be wonderful to see a really large check for the years of fighting to have a claim approved, it is torture between the time help is sought and when it is finally delivered. I know too many people still trying to have claims approved years and years after the claim was filed. It's also one of the biggest reasons I get so frustrated when people leave comments about "the veteran has to prove the claim" because most of the time they have and yet they are still turned down.
How can anyone go thru all of this and not believe that God has abandoned them and they are suffering because of His anger? After years of hearing preachers spout out about how God's wrath seeks vengeance, they believe that is why they are suffering. They cannot understand that God has mercy but people are jerks at times. Things get twisted up in the minds of humans and they begin to feel hopeless. Removing hope from someone is taking draining what is good in them out of them. It adds to the suffering.
If they understand that God has not abandoned them or condemned them, it returns hope to their spirit and that goes a long way in healing them.
Anyway, that's what was behind this video. I ended up getting an award for the videos from the IFOC and this was the one most people talked about.
At this time of year when we are celebrating the birth of Christ and the miracle of love, feeling charitable and thinking of other people instead of ourselves, I thought it was a great time to remind people that all is not lost and we are not alone in this world no matter how much we feel as if we are. When bad things happen, God has sent people into this world to help and show His love thru them. Is He talking to you right now? Is He trying to get you to help the veterans? Is he talking to you and trying to get you to heal your own marriage, reach out to a family member you abandoned because you didn't understand what was wrong with them or why they came home differently? Then answer Him and help by doing, not wishing, hoping or talking. If you do not do it with actions now, you will forget about wanting to help before this day is done.
from http://www.namguardianangel.com/
PTSD Is Not God's Judgment
by Chaplain Kathie
Sometimes doing the right thing comes with a price. When it comes to the men and women serving in the military and National Guards, that price is paid when they begin to serve, away from family and friends, and all too often, continues to be paid long after they are safely back home.
Humans tend to twist things up trying to make sense of our lives. Our brains will not allow the obvious to remove doubts. Heroes are born into this world with a mission deeply ingrained in their souls. Some are sent to minister to others and take care of strangers. They enter into fields of service. Doctors, nurses, emergency responders, councilors, firefighters and National Guards. Others are sent to protect their countrymen. Law enforcement from police and sheriff departments, intelligence services like the FBI and the military. All ready to lay down their lives for the sake of others.
Laying down your life does not always mean your physical life. Sometimes it means your personal life. The things you would rather be doing when you are torn between duty and want. Setting aside times of enjoyment for times of service because someone needs you.
When it comes to those serving in the military and National Guards, they are asked not only to defend, but to attack. They see horrific events unfold before their eyes, friends die, strangers die and wounds suffered by survivors. Then they question everything after. Why were they there? Why did they have to do what they did? What they could have done to have saved a friend? Did God judge them for what they did or did not do? Did God abandon them?
When they begin to suffer from the events in the form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they do not allow the fact that the basis of their service was answering a noble calling. Even when they were drafted into the military, they see only the horrors of war and not the purpose for which they were there.
Ever since the beginning of time, God's will to provide mankind with freewill, has required those who would defend the weaker. Before He created man, God created a warrior angel, the Archangel Michael. He is always depicted with a sword in one hand and scales in the other to show the balance between war and protection.
Reading the passages of the Bible you can clearly see the affects following war on the warrior. Page after page shows how the war changed the warrior from King David to Judges and Kings. Historical accounts of warriors from all nations and generations have shown the war lingers in the minds and souls of the humans participating in it. While we here in America glorify the Revolutionary war, we tend to ignore many of Patriots suffered from it.
We cannot judge those believing they need to be forgiven for what they had to do. In those cases, we need only point to an event in the Bible itself. It was during Christ's walk upon the earth. Given the fact Christ knew how His life would end and by whose hands, a Roman Centurion approached Christ and begged Him to heal his beloved servant. Christ not only knew this man would be part of the occupiers to nail Him to the cross, He also knew that this Centurion prayed to pagan gods. He was not a believer in His Father. Yet Christ saw into his heart and the love he had for a servant. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Christ did not ask the Centurion to convert or to follow Him.
Christ did not ask him to renounce his position of power among the Romans. Christ simply honored the Centurion's plea. If Christ could find compassion for someone like this Centurion knowing what he had done and what he would do, how can anyone not understand that Christ can see into the hearts and souls of all warriors?
We end up wondering how God can forgive us for what we do instead of wondering if we can forgive ourselves. To understand the kind of love God has for all of His children, no matter what faith they claim, is beyond our ability to understand. We know how we judge others and that prevents us from understanding that God can see inside of us and not just what we do or hear what we say. He takes it all into account.
When warriors leave the battle, they take it all with them. What is pushed into the backs of their minds is the basis of why they were there. What was in their hearts when they joined? What was in their minds pushing them? Was it evil intent or was it noble? Was it to protect and help or was it to kill and destroy? Even if it was for this reason, they fail to see that God can forgive them and heal them. He can turn around all they have done in order to help others if they are willing.
PTSD is not a judgment from God but the result of traumatic events. God does not cause war. Man does. Still God knows there needs to be defenders to protect others. I believe that is why God has called some to do this and enabled them with the courage to provide defense.
We've all heard the expression "God only gives us what we can handle" or words similar, but this thought it wrong. It implies God sends terrible things into our lives instead of God providing us with what we need to get thru it. When we believe God has sent these events into our lives or sent us into them, we then believe that what comes after is God's judgment of us. If we pay with our troubled minds not letting go of what we endured, it is as if God sent ghosts to remind us of it all. It is the human mind wounded by traumatic events because of how God created us. The same ability we have to inspire us to care about others, also wounds us.
We've heard the expression "survivors guilt" and when we are left standing when others did not, when we survive what killed others, when we see what we did not suffer, we feel guilty over it. We judge ourselves unworthy.
The video I created PTSD Not God's Judgment is about this. The song I selected is You Raise Me Up because the words have more meaning to the purpose of this video than any other song I could find.
We need to remember that the warriors suffering from PTSD need to be treated as they are with all they come with. Their minds, their bodies as well as their souls. Reconnecting them to the faith they had or to the spiritual tugging they had, is just as important as addressing their psychological condition. It will not matter how much medication they take or how much they talk about what they endured if they still believe their suffering has come from God. If they believe they have been condemned and judged, no amount of therapy will heal them. While therapy and medication will alleviate some of their symptoms, spiritual counseling will do deeper healing and miracles follow.
There have been cases when Vietnam veterans have reconnected with children and children have forgiven their parents for the way they acted while PTSD was taken over their lives. Understanding what PTSD is and what it is not has healed, not just the veteran, but the entire family.
Click the video above on the picture of the soldier holding another solider in his arms.(On my web site at above link or on the side bar of this blog) This is the video link to PTSD Not God's Judgment. We need to hold all of them in our arms and help them to heal but we can't unless and until we understand how deeply this wound goes and all that goes with it.
In between now and then, we need to do what we can to help them. After all, someone has to.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington
One of the veterans I had been trying to help had emailed me one morning. When I responded to his comment about God forgiving him, I knew I had to do the video.
What I have to deal with now is the fact I had to stop trying to help someone that had become a friend. He was at the angry stage, pushing me away and not listening. The fight had gone out of him and he was blaming everyone. Not that I can blame him. He lost everything. He couldn't get his claim approved. He couldn't get into treatment because he couldn't get his claim approved. Although it was a legitimate claim, he just couldn't get it approved.
He was involved in this
Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Kmer Rouge forces in M...
Mariner Heroes from Military Sealift Command ship participate in rescue attempt of SS Mayaguez which was caputured by Kmer Rouge Cambodia forces.
This happened in May of 1975, while most people in this country simply assume the deaths due to Vietnam stopped in 1973. If you look at the Vietnam Memorial, you'll see the year 1975. Before this veteran contacted me, I thought the last two Marines had died in April of 1975. Even I didn't remember this.
When the veteran sought help, some people didn't believe him. Some said he was not a real veteran because, after all, it ended in 1973.
I tried to send him help, help I knew I could not give him but he had become unable to trust anyone. It was not his fault. He had been conditioned to not being able to trust other people. Most of us reach a point in our lives when we get our hopes up that someone will finally help us, then break down when we discover people are really great at promising things they never do. It's almost as if once the conversation ends, they never think of us again. (It happens to me all the time.) Well, he was left with a boat load of crashed hopes and buckets filled with excuses. The fight had gone out of him.
The stress I was under was added to by my frustration with myself. No matter what I did or how many people I contacted, no one could help him. I was having nightmares about my failures and crying way too much. It was affecting everything else I did. I knew I could do no more for him and had to force him to fight for himself. While I still hold him in my heart and pray for him, we have not been in contact for months. I have no idea what happened to him and that breaks my heart all over again. I just couldn't go on failing him.
There is only so much I can do. My end of all of this is to provide education of what PTSD is and offer what little support I can give. I cannot diagnose or treat them beyond my own abilities and sometimes the veterans come to me expecting a lot more than I can give. There was something about this veteran that I broke my own rules about getting attached and I contacted everyone I knew to help him because I knew it was beyond what I could do. That's the most frustrating thing about all of this for anyone trying to help.
If the VA would honor the claims when they are presented since the vast majority of them are legitimate ones, it would go a long way of saving the veterans lives, their families and actually proving this country is grateful for their service by accepting responsibility for the wounds they carry.
While the veteran I was trying to help wanted to give up in less than a year of fighting, he didn't want to hear that we had to fight to have my husband's claim approved for six years. One of my husband's friends took 19 years. No one wants to hear that someday the claim will be approved when they are suffering and trying to survive. While it may be wonderful to see a really large check for the years of fighting to have a claim approved, it is torture between the time help is sought and when it is finally delivered. I know too many people still trying to have claims approved years and years after the claim was filed. It's also one of the biggest reasons I get so frustrated when people leave comments about "the veteran has to prove the claim" because most of the time they have and yet they are still turned down.
How can anyone go thru all of this and not believe that God has abandoned them and they are suffering because of His anger? After years of hearing preachers spout out about how God's wrath seeks vengeance, they believe that is why they are suffering. They cannot understand that God has mercy but people are jerks at times. Things get twisted up in the minds of humans and they begin to feel hopeless. Removing hope from someone is taking draining what is good in them out of them. It adds to the suffering.
If they understand that God has not abandoned them or condemned them, it returns hope to their spirit and that goes a long way in healing them.
Anyway, that's what was behind this video. I ended up getting an award for the videos from the IFOC and this was the one most people talked about.
At this time of year when we are celebrating the birth of Christ and the miracle of love, feeling charitable and thinking of other people instead of ourselves, I thought it was a great time to remind people that all is not lost and we are not alone in this world no matter how much we feel as if we are. When bad things happen, God has sent people into this world to help and show His love thru them. Is He talking to you right now? Is He trying to get you to help the veterans? Is he talking to you and trying to get you to heal your own marriage, reach out to a family member you abandoned because you didn't understand what was wrong with them or why they came home differently? Then answer Him and help by doing, not wishing, hoping or talking. If you do not do it with actions now, you will forget about wanting to help before this day is done.
from http://www.namguardianangel.com/
PTSD Is Not God's Judgment
by Chaplain Kathie
Sometimes doing the right thing comes with a price. When it comes to the men and women serving in the military and National Guards, that price is paid when they begin to serve, away from family and friends, and all too often, continues to be paid long after they are safely back home.
Humans tend to twist things up trying to make sense of our lives. Our brains will not allow the obvious to remove doubts. Heroes are born into this world with a mission deeply ingrained in their souls. Some are sent to minister to others and take care of strangers. They enter into fields of service. Doctors, nurses, emergency responders, councilors, firefighters and National Guards. Others are sent to protect their countrymen. Law enforcement from police and sheriff departments, intelligence services like the FBI and the military. All ready to lay down their lives for the sake of others.
Laying down your life does not always mean your physical life. Sometimes it means your personal life. The things you would rather be doing when you are torn between duty and want. Setting aside times of enjoyment for times of service because someone needs you.
When it comes to those serving in the military and National Guards, they are asked not only to defend, but to attack. They see horrific events unfold before their eyes, friends die, strangers die and wounds suffered by survivors. Then they question everything after. Why were they there? Why did they have to do what they did? What they could have done to have saved a friend? Did God judge them for what they did or did not do? Did God abandon them?
When they begin to suffer from the events in the form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they do not allow the fact that the basis of their service was answering a noble calling. Even when they were drafted into the military, they see only the horrors of war and not the purpose for which they were there.
Ever since the beginning of time, God's will to provide mankind with freewill, has required those who would defend the weaker. Before He created man, God created a warrior angel, the Archangel Michael. He is always depicted with a sword in one hand and scales in the other to show the balance between war and protection.
Reading the passages of the Bible you can clearly see the affects following war on the warrior. Page after page shows how the war changed the warrior from King David to Judges and Kings. Historical accounts of warriors from all nations and generations have shown the war lingers in the minds and souls of the humans participating in it. While we here in America glorify the Revolutionary war, we tend to ignore many of Patriots suffered from it.
We cannot judge those believing they need to be forgiven for what they had to do. In those cases, we need only point to an event in the Bible itself. It was during Christ's walk upon the earth. Given the fact Christ knew how His life would end and by whose hands, a Roman Centurion approached Christ and begged Him to heal his beloved servant. Christ not only knew this man would be part of the occupiers to nail Him to the cross, He also knew that this Centurion prayed to pagan gods. He was not a believer in His Father. Yet Christ saw into his heart and the love he had for a servant. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Christ did not ask the Centurion to convert or to follow Him.
Christ did not ask him to renounce his position of power among the Romans. Christ simply honored the Centurion's plea. If Christ could find compassion for someone like this Centurion knowing what he had done and what he would do, how can anyone not understand that Christ can see into the hearts and souls of all warriors?
We end up wondering how God can forgive us for what we do instead of wondering if we can forgive ourselves. To understand the kind of love God has for all of His children, no matter what faith they claim, is beyond our ability to understand. We know how we judge others and that prevents us from understanding that God can see inside of us and not just what we do or hear what we say. He takes it all into account.
When warriors leave the battle, they take it all with them. What is pushed into the backs of their minds is the basis of why they were there. What was in their hearts when they joined? What was in their minds pushing them? Was it evil intent or was it noble? Was it to protect and help or was it to kill and destroy? Even if it was for this reason, they fail to see that God can forgive them and heal them. He can turn around all they have done in order to help others if they are willing.
PTSD is not a judgment from God but the result of traumatic events. God does not cause war. Man does. Still God knows there needs to be defenders to protect others. I believe that is why God has called some to do this and enabled them with the courage to provide defense.
We've all heard the expression "God only gives us what we can handle" or words similar, but this thought it wrong. It implies God sends terrible things into our lives instead of God providing us with what we need to get thru it. When we believe God has sent these events into our lives or sent us into them, we then believe that what comes after is God's judgment of us. If we pay with our troubled minds not letting go of what we endured, it is as if God sent ghosts to remind us of it all. It is the human mind wounded by traumatic events because of how God created us. The same ability we have to inspire us to care about others, also wounds us.
We've heard the expression "survivors guilt" and when we are left standing when others did not, when we survive what killed others, when we see what we did not suffer, we feel guilty over it. We judge ourselves unworthy.
The video I created PTSD Not God's Judgment is about this. The song I selected is You Raise Me Up because the words have more meaning to the purpose of this video than any other song I could find.
You Raise Me Up
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
We need to remember that the warriors suffering from PTSD need to be treated as they are with all they come with. Their minds, their bodies as well as their souls. Reconnecting them to the faith they had or to the spiritual tugging they had, is just as important as addressing their psychological condition. It will not matter how much medication they take or how much they talk about what they endured if they still believe their suffering has come from God. If they believe they have been condemned and judged, no amount of therapy will heal them. While therapy and medication will alleviate some of their symptoms, spiritual counseling will do deeper healing and miracles follow.
There have been cases when Vietnam veterans have reconnected with children and children have forgiven their parents for the way they acted while PTSD was taken over their lives. Understanding what PTSD is and what it is not has healed, not just the veteran, but the entire family.
Click the video above on the picture of the soldier holding another solider in his arms.(On my web site at above link or on the side bar of this blog) This is the video link to PTSD Not God's Judgment. We need to hold all of them in our arms and help them to heal but we can't unless and until we understand how deeply this wound goes and all that goes with it.
In between now and then, we need to do what we can to help them. After all, someone has to.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Finding Jesus on Facebook, and Checking Podcasts for a Pew That Fits
Finding Jesus on Facebook, and Checking Podcasts for a Pew That Fits
By APRIL DEMBOSKY
Some churches are branching out into sites like Facebook and MySpace and weaving multimedia elements into their services in an effort to attract younger worshipers.
click link for more
By APRIL DEMBOSKY
Some churches are branching out into sites like Facebook and MySpace and weaving multimedia elements into their services in an effort to attract younger worshipers.
click link for more
Sunday, September 14, 2008
How to talk to your doctor about God
How to talk to your doctor about God
Story Highlights
Recent study found many Americans believe in divine intervention in a medical crisis
If faith is important to you, it's OK to ask for a doctor with similar convictions
If you believe in miracles, make sure your health providers know it
By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Correspondent
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians gathered around her son's crib, their faces grim. Pamela Gorman knew what they were thinking: Her son, Christopher, was about to die.
Story Highlights
Recent study found many Americans believe in divine intervention in a medical crisis
If faith is important to you, it's OK to ask for a doctor with similar convictions
If you believe in miracles, make sure your health providers know it
By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Correspondent
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians gathered around her son's crib, their faces grim. Pamela Gorman knew what they were thinking: Her son, Christopher, was about to die.
Christopher was just a few days old and had a rare blood infection and fungal meningitis, a brain infection.
"I could tell in their eyes they had no hope for my son," Gorman said. "They told me to prepare for his death. They told me he might not make it through the night."
Gorman never believed the doctors. In fact, she did something she thinks annoyed these men and women of science: She prayed. She prayed all the time.
"They made me feel ridiculous for praying so much and so hard and leaving it up to God," said Gorman, who lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho. "But I told them my son not surviving was not an option."
When he was a month old, Christopher left the hospital. He's been healthy ever since, she says. He turns 3 next month.
"It was a miracle," she said. "There are just things doctors can't explain. Doctors are not in control of everything. There's stuff that happens every day that they can't explain."
Empowered Patient: Watch more on faith and medicine »
A new study finds that many Americans have that same kind of faith. In the study, 57 percent of randomly surveyed adults said God's intervention could save a deathly ill family member even if physicians said treatment would be futile.
However, just under 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could reverse a helpless outcome.
The study was published last month in Archives of Surgery and is one of many to show a "faith gap" between doctors and patients.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/11/ep.faith.medicine/index.html
Monday, April 21, 2008
Clergy learn together how to help vets
Clergy learn together how to help vets
By Anna Badkhen
Globe Staff / April 22, 2008
HADLEY - When a young veteran arrived at the Wesley United Methodist Church two years ago, the Rev. Lyle Seger barely noticed his presence. The church was moving to a new building, and Seger was preoccupied. The veteran attended a couple of Sunday services and then stopped coming.
Last February, the man returned to Seger's church to speak at a seminar about emotional needs of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and seeing his life shattered by his tour of duty in Afghanistan, the veteran had turned to alcohol, left his wife and two children, and considered killing himself.
"It was like getting a gut punch; it was eye-opening," said Seger, a pastor of 22 years who sees his calling in helping people. "What would have happened if we were more attentive to him?"
While private charities and government agencies have focused on ways to help returning vets dealing with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, or major depression, clergy have had little training. And with vets looking to churches for healing, ministers like Seger have not always known how to respond.
"They are not reaching out to them in a meaningful way that would help them heal from the war," said the Rev. Philip Salois, a Vietnam War veteran and chief of the chaplain service at the VA in Boston.
In Massachusetts, some members of the clergy are trying to find out.
click post title for more
more stories like this on site
Humbled at Walter Reed
State to hold veterans fair in Hartford
State forms commission on veteran mental health care
Commission to study effects of war on Mass. veterans
Program targets veteran suicides
It's about time!!!!!
This is one of the biggest reasons why I did the new video PTSD Not God's Judgment. So many feel they were abandoned by God because they were where they were, doing what they had to do, seeing what they had to see and then wondering how a loving God could tolerate what happens during war. The point is that His heart must be breaking when it does happen but His wisdom knows the difference between evil and the willingness to lay down your life for the sake of your friends. He knows the warriors are willing to do that, but they pray to Him they never have to use their training. He knows our troops do not get to decide where they will risk their lives, how long they will risk their lives or which enemy they are told to kill.
The first warrior created by God was the Arch Angel Michael. He was created before man was even on the planet. God knew freewill would create chaos, right and wrong would be susceptible to pride, greed and those who seek to take power. Even the angels battled against each other. From the beginning of recorded time, man went to war with man, nation attacked nation because rulers wanted more and more of everything no matter who they had to kill to get it. Yet the warriors are the ones who only serve their country.
Every civilization, every generation had to address the aftermath of war for the survivors. Most adapted procedures to deal with the suffering of the warriors by taking care of their mind, body and spirit in healing. No matter which time they lived in or what faith they had, their leaders fed the three parts of the warriors. America has done little to address any of the three parts. The warriors of today are not given time for their bodies to rest, recover and rebuild strength. Their minds are not allowed to heal and they are forced to wait for the medical care they need. Their spirits are not addressed at all by the government or the clergy. The excuse is the separation of church and state.
This is where Chaplains come in. They are non-denominational pastors without a church, without a pulpit and without an agenda other than taking care of the spiritual needs of mankind. It should also be where the clergy come in but they are disinterested. I've talked to members of the clergy trying to get them to do this but as I was trying to explain it, I could see their eyes glaze over and then they would change the subject.
Most of this comes from the fact they are people who love God but have lived their lives in study of God and not in the study of man. They do not pay attention to the news or the events shaping their "flock" as they deal with things impossible for them to understand. The clergy have a had time understanding what the troops are going through just as they have a hard time understanding the anyone who comes to doubt God's love. They make speeches about forgiveness in their sermons but they never get to the heart when there are people sitting out there listening who have survived the ravages of war and then doubting the very same love of God they are hearing about from the pulpit.
Please read the rest of this article and then pass it on to your own clergy. Again, it does not matter what faith you are a member of. This is a human illness and a human need.
Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
Monday, January 7, 2008
Veteran, theologian, and survivor of PTSD: "God gave me my identity back"
Veteran, theologian, and survivor of PTSD: "God gave me my identity back"
We hear a lot about returning war veterans broken in body, but less about those who are broken in mind and spirit. But here's the story of one veteran -- who is also a theologian and teacher -- who is working to see that those wounded warriors aren't forgotten:
John Zemler had nightmares. For 23 years, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, he awoke every night from the “screamers.”Then one morning in January 2007, he realized, the screamers were gone.
“A lot of my anger and fear, God just took it away from me,” Zemler said. “He gave me my identity back.” Zemler’s mission is to provide that same gift to other sufferers of PTSD.As an assistant professor of theology at Marquette University, with his wife Wanda Zemler-Cizewski, an associate professor, Zemler is in a unique position to provide outreach to those with PTSD — as a veteran, theologian, and victim.“I’m born into this job — theologian and as a veteran with PTSD,” Zemler said. “I’m called to it. You can get through this. A relationship with God will get you through it. It won’t defeat you.”A former artillery captain in the army, Zemler served in Desert Storm from the United States, training soldiers. The PTSD stems from the special weapons work he did in the 1980s in Turkey. From teaching others to fight, he now educates others about the dangers of PTSD.
Again put the spiritual and the psychological together to move the mountain of pain out of the way. This works best.
We hear a lot about returning war veterans broken in body, but less about those who are broken in mind and spirit. But here's the story of one veteran -- who is also a theologian and teacher -- who is working to see that those wounded warriors aren't forgotten:
John Zemler had nightmares. For 23 years, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, he awoke every night from the “screamers.”Then one morning in January 2007, he realized, the screamers were gone.
“A lot of my anger and fear, God just took it away from me,” Zemler said. “He gave me my identity back.” Zemler’s mission is to provide that same gift to other sufferers of PTSD.As an assistant professor of theology at Marquette University, with his wife Wanda Zemler-Cizewski, an associate professor, Zemler is in a unique position to provide outreach to those with PTSD — as a veteran, theologian, and victim.“I’m born into this job — theologian and as a veteran with PTSD,” Zemler said. “I’m called to it. You can get through this. A relationship with God will get you through it. It won’t defeat you.”A former artillery captain in the army, Zemler served in Desert Storm from the United States, training soldiers. The PTSD stems from the special weapons work he did in the 1980s in Turkey. From teaching others to fight, he now educates others about the dangers of PTSD.
Again put the spiritual and the psychological together to move the mountain of pain out of the way. This works best.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
To lay down his life for the sake of his friends.
Do you think God abandoned you still? Come on and admit that while you were in the center of the trauma, you either felt the hand of God on your shoulder, or more often, never felt further from Him. In natural disasters, we pray to God to protect us. Yet when it's over we wonder why He didn't make the hurricane hit someplace else or why the tornadoes came and destroyed what we had while leaving the neighbors house untouched. We wonder why He heals some people while the people we love suffer. It is human nature to wonder, search for answers and try to understand.
In times of combat, it is very hard to feel anything Godly. Humans are trying to kill other humans and the horrors of wars become an evil act. The absence of God becomes overwhelming. We wonder how a loving God who blessed us with Jesus, would allow the carnage of war. We wonder how He could possibly forgive us for being a part of it. For soldiers, this is often the hardest personal crisis they face.
They are raised to love God and to be told how much God loves them. For Christians, they are reminded of the gift of Jesus, yet in moments of crisis they forget most of what Jesus went through.
Here are a few lessons and you don't even have to go to church to hear them.
This sounds like a great act Jesus did. You think about the Roman Centurion, powerful, commanding, able to lead men into combat, perhaps Jesus even knew of the other men this Centurion has killed. Yet this same man, capable of killing, was also capable of great compassion for what some regarded as a piece of property, his slave. He showed he didn't trust the pagan gods the Romans prayed to but was willing to trust Jesus.
Yet when you look deeper into this act, it proves that Jesus has compassion for the warriors. The life and death of Jesus were not surprises to Him. He knew from the very beginning how it would end. This is apparent throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. He knew He would be betrayed, beaten, mocked, humiliated and nailed to the cross by the hands of Romans. Yet even knowing this would come, He had compassion for this Roman soldier. The Romans had tortured and killed the Jews since the beginning of their empire as well as other conquered people. The Roman soldiers believed in what they were doing, yet even with that, there was still documentation of them suffering for what they did.
Ancient historians documented the illness striking the Greeks, which is what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is evidence this illness hit every generation of warriors. Jesus would be aware that saving the Centurion's slave, because of the faith and trust He placed in Jesus, would be reported from soldier to soldier. Jesus showed compassion even to the Romans.
How can we think that He would not show compassion to today's soldiers? How can we think that He would look any differently on them than He did toward the soldiers who would nail Him to the Cross?
God didn't send you into combat. Another human did. God however created who you are inside. The ability to be willing to lay down your life for the sake of others was in you the day you were born. While God allows freewill, for good and for evil, He also has a place in His heart for all of His children. We humans however let go of His hand at the time we need to hold onto it the most.
When tragedy and trauma strike, we wonder where God was that He allowed it to happen. Then we blame ourselves. We do the "if" and " but" over and over again in our own minds thinking it was our fault and the trauma was a judgment from God. Yet we do not consider that God could very well be the reason we survived it all.
PTSD is a double edge cut to the person. The trauma strikes the emotions and the sense that God has abandoned us strikes at the soul. There is no greater sense of loss than to feel as if God has left you alone especially after surviving trauma and war. If you read the passage of Jesus and the Roman, you know that this would be impossible for God to do to you. Search your soul and you will find Him still there.
For the last story on this we have none other than the Arch Angel Michael. The warrior angel. If God did not value the warrior for the sake of good, then why would He create a warrior angel and make him as mighty as he was?
Michael has a sword in one hand and a scale in the other. God places things in balance for the warriors.
When it comes to waging war, issuing orders, God will judge the hearts and minds of those who sent you and He will also know your's. If you feel you need to be forgiven, then ask for it and you will be forgiven. Yet if you know in your heart the basis of your service was that of the willingness to lay down your life for your friends, then ask to be healed. Know this. That if Jesus had the compassion for a Roman how could He have any less compassion for you?
Because the military is in enough trouble already trying to evangelize soldiers for a certain branch of Christianity, understand this is not part of that. It's one of the benefits of having I don't care what faith you have or which place of worship you attended. If you were a religious person at any level before combat, your soul is in need of healing as well. There is a tremendous gift when the psychological healing is combined with the spiritual healing. If you have a religious leader you can talk to, please seek them out.
Kathie Costos
In times of combat, it is very hard to feel anything Godly. Humans are trying to kill other humans and the horrors of wars become an evil act. The absence of God becomes overwhelming. We wonder how a loving God who blessed us with Jesus, would allow the carnage of war. We wonder how He could possibly forgive us for being a part of it. For soldiers, this is often the hardest personal crisis they face.
They are raised to love God and to be told how much God loves them. For Christians, they are reminded of the gift of Jesus, yet in moments of crisis they forget most of what Jesus went through.
Here are a few lessons and you don't even have to go to church to hear them.
( Matthew 8:5-13)
As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
This sounds like a great act Jesus did. You think about the Roman Centurion, powerful, commanding, able to lead men into combat, perhaps Jesus even knew of the other men this Centurion has killed. Yet this same man, capable of killing, was also capable of great compassion for what some regarded as a piece of property, his slave. He showed he didn't trust the pagan gods the Romans prayed to but was willing to trust Jesus.
Yet when you look deeper into this act, it proves that Jesus has compassion for the warriors. The life and death of Jesus were not surprises to Him. He knew from the very beginning how it would end. This is apparent throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. He knew He would be betrayed, beaten, mocked, humiliated and nailed to the cross by the hands of Romans. Yet even knowing this would come, He had compassion for this Roman soldier. The Romans had tortured and killed the Jews since the beginning of their empire as well as other conquered people. The Roman soldiers believed in what they were doing, yet even with that, there was still documentation of them suffering for what they did.
Ancient historians documented the illness striking the Greeks, which is what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is evidence this illness hit every generation of warriors. Jesus would be aware that saving the Centurion's slave, because of the faith and trust He placed in Jesus, would be reported from soldier to soldier. Jesus showed compassion even to the Romans.
How can we think that He would not show compassion to today's soldiers? How can we think that He would look any differently on them than He did toward the soldiers who would nail Him to the Cross?
God didn't send you into combat. Another human did. God however created who you are inside. The ability to be willing to lay down your life for the sake of others was in you the day you were born. While God allows freewill, for good and for evil, He also has a place in His heart for all of His children. We humans however let go of His hand at the time we need to hold onto it the most.
When tragedy and trauma strike, we wonder where God was that He allowed it to happen. Then we blame ourselves. We do the "if" and " but" over and over again in our own minds thinking it was our fault and the trauma was a judgment from God. Yet we do not consider that God could very well be the reason we survived it all.
PTSD is a double edge cut to the person. The trauma strikes the emotions and the sense that God has abandoned us strikes at the soul. There is no greater sense of loss than to feel as if God has left you alone especially after surviving trauma and war. If you read the passage of Jesus and the Roman, you know that this would be impossible for God to do to you. Search your soul and you will find Him still there.
For the last story on this we have none other than the Arch Angel Michael. The warrior angel. If God did not value the warrior for the sake of good, then why would He create a warrior angel and make him as mighty as he was?
Michael has a sword in one hand and a scale in the other. God places things in balance for the warriors.
And in John 15:
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
When it comes to waging war, issuing orders, God will judge the hearts and minds of those who sent you and He will also know your's. If you feel you need to be forgiven, then ask for it and you will be forgiven. Yet if you know in your heart the basis of your service was that of the willingness to lay down your life for your friends, then ask to be healed. Know this. That if Jesus had the compassion for a Roman how could He have any less compassion for you?
Because the military is in enough trouble already trying to evangelize soldiers for a certain branch of Christianity, understand this is not part of that. It's one of the benefits of having I don't care what faith you have or which place of worship you attended. If you were a religious person at any level before combat, your soul is in need of healing as well. There is a tremendous gift when the psychological healing is combined with the spiritual healing. If you have a religious leader you can talk to, please seek them out.
Kathie Costos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)