Story and Song: Reframing the Narrative of Trauma and Shame

The Bible, in all of its sixty-six books, is one cohesive story. When we pan its view, we see that narrative unfold in pieces. Where each of the smaller, individual stories intersect, Scripture’s song releases bits of reflection. In totality, the image impressed within our mind’s eye is the story of Jesus. In Him, we follow the Heart of a Father, Friend, Faithful confidant, and more.

Existing eternally, yet presiding over time, He is the one who simultaneously was, is, and is yet to come. In wisdom and creativity, He blends the rough edges of our shame stories into the pages of Scripture’s existing arc. He grafts us in, enhancing its drama and depth with the personal highs and lows imposed by trauma and pain.

Without the parts of our past and present that we consider despicable and shameful, its view would be incomplete. For, it is in mercy that the Love of the Father, the Glory of the Son, and the Brilliance of His Spirit spins the yarn of a tapestry that is only complete when woven with His, ours, and those that preceded us (Heb. 11:40).

Looking through this lens offers us an opportunity to take heaven’s view. The writer of Hebrews describes “a great cloud of witnesses,” who faced some of the same sordid challenges we encounter (Heb. 12:1). Although our Sunday School lessons or children’s Bible narratives may have glossed over the imperfections, adult eyes re-reading the Bible often capture another story in the scroll.

Take King David, for example, who emerged from a family where he was scorned by his brothers and dismissed by his father. That didn’t deter God from anointing him to be king of Israel, in his youth, long before he engaged in a laundry list of wounds and offenses.

Wrestling, warfare, and worship

We know David best for his songs and contribution to the Psalms. His worshipful poetry graces the center of our Bibles, representing where he is sandwiched between this internal yearning for his soul to escape the conflicts of a challenged life to get away and be with God.

The other side of the pressure is a soul vexation where he is stalked and hunted, vilified and scorned, feared and betrayed, celebrated and scorned. Psalms offers a stealthy read of a diary where a man, a king, and a son freely express anguish and jubilance in the same breath.

When we view his repentant heart poured into the pages, we embrace the context that his experience of family trauma and dysfunction provides to amplify and awaken some of our most beloved portions of Scripture.

Craving the love and affirmation of a Father, where his own seemed to have ignored him, he submitted himself to King Saul’s jealous attempts on his life. David plastered the legitimate needs for belonging and comfort with maladaptive means: voyeurism, adultery, then murder to cover his sin.

We see him respond in apathy to one son deceiving and sexually violating his daughter. His adult children seemed to have engaged in a similar rivalry where each tried their hand at treason, to take the kingdom from him and one another. Like us, King David was a real person with troublesome issues, yet desperately in love with his God.

Even though David had many enemies, he also had many allies. God Himself was Chief coach, cheerleader, and champion, calling him the “apple” of His eye and the man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14). His story, though one of many, illustrates the mercy of God at work. It reveals the broader picture where we need to see the finished work of the Messiah in light of our sin, shame, and trauma.

Before we assess the men and women of the Bible through the lens of distance and our morality, we must remember that in our collective fallen state, God still predetermined a glorious future. We don’t read Scripture to pick apart those who came before us but to embrace the totality of their backstory in light of God’s greater story. This helps us to value and give voice to our own.

Redeem and restore

Considering the magnitude of who God is and what He’s done in our lives, we don’t need to give place to the devil or the voice of shame that accuses and condemns (Rom. 8:1). Jesus has redeemed us from trauma’s clutches for Himself, wooed and won us back into right standing and renewed relationship.

Scripture is laced with scandal and intrigue, but also undulates the redemptive Heart of a compassionate Father. God even populates the bloodline of His Son’s earthly family with a cast of characters to rival any soap opera or reality television special.

He is the One who chose us with this in mind. Our lives, no matter the condition when He found us, will be restored to better than what we ever could have imagined (John 15:16; 1 John 3:2).

Release

When we weigh life and testimony, we cannot omit the pages that seem like an odd fit. How would we have the poetry of the Psalms without the context of King David’s internal and external wrestling, warfare, and worship?

While we may not necessarily share all the details with any one person or group, we can surrender all of our secrets to the Lord in prayers that we fashion into stories, songs, or spoken words.

Our trauma responses may be raw, and it may be easy to find ourselves triggered by certain stimuli. Whether that includes certain people or places, healthy coping strategies help to process the pain. We can find a way to release what would otherwise hamper us through creative expressions of worship and waging warfare through story and song.

Resolve

Resolving lingering trauma and properly responding to triggers is a reality for many who have suffered as we have. We don’t have to persist in pain, being traumatized again and again. We do have to detach from the shame that hinders its telling and our decision to heal and move forward.

Though we don’t see it initially, trauma isn’t the center of our world. It may have occupied space in our minds and emotions, threatening to swallow our well-being and tethering us to past pain. We don’t have to afford that power any longer.

Reframe

Reframing our memories and painful experiences, including those informed by trauma and toxicity, can be an effective therapeutic tool to facilitate healing and wholeness. While this is done well in partnership, through the practice and in presence of a trained professional therapist, it can be pivotal and transformative for our overall health and personal development.

When we reframe, we reposition to view the grander landscape of our lives. Seeing all of life’s nuances helps us patch together the fragments of a complex existence and integrate them into a narrative that embodies shape, dimension, and resilience. It helps us to make sense of what doesn’t, and receive peace and solace where we may not have understanding or closure in the typical sense.

In response, one clear passage emerges, revealing that God creatively repurposes our means to reflect an end that displays His glory and our good (Rom. 8:28).

Reframing pain allows us to take our challenge and difficulty in one hand. In the other, we not only hold, but are held by God’s grace. The same Spirit who breathed us into being, now makes us alive through the power of Christ who died to make us free.

Where the jagged edges of our pain and trauma have sliced others or caused us to impale parts of ourselves on patterns of dysfunction, a greater Truth is at work. Our salvation and ongoing sanctification are proof positive that where the enemy intended to destroy, our Redeemer had already planned a divine destiny.

Next steps for healing from trauma and shame

While it may neither look nor feel like it amidst present circumstances, your eternal story is bigger than trauma and shame’s role. There is more to you than a series of debilitating events and a toxic past that would have otherwise battered you into silence.

Although the shadows of shame loom large, don’t succumb and retreat into invisibility. Seek additional support from an empathetic counselor on this site, and schedule an appointment today. Take courage in the holy power to reframe your story and sing a new song.