Here at Driven we had an idea! As a new article section, we are going to introduce case studies as a form of training. The following case study focuses on childhood trauma with a senior adult. The names have been changed to protect their identities. Please note this is not a medical case study nor is intended to be an education piece outside of ministry.
Case Study Details
Beth is a grandmother with a rewarding career. Although quiet with a calm personality, she is well put together in appearance. When she is anxious, she gently rubs her fingers together or pulls on her clothing. She is easily intimidated and has few boundaries in her life.
The secret:
As a teenager, Beth was forced to get an abortion. No one in her extended or current family was aware of her pregnancy, but the guilt had become more than she could stand. Any time someone mentioned abortion, the shame and guilt engulfed her. She felt like the abuse and abortion were her root issues, they were not.
Because of the lies she believed about herself and because of what she had done, the pattern of being in abusive relationships started in her teens and continued well into adulthood.
Deliverance:
Beth has gone through the Set Yourself Free course with Amber Hackney. She had done much of the work, like repenting, forgiving, and seeking the Lord. She had gotten a measure of freedom, but the secrets she did not tell were keeping her heavy, full of guilt, and feeling shameful.
Case Study 1: Meeting One:
The ministry leader chose Maggie to be the team leader with Beth. Maggie gathered her team. She selected a woman who had been set free from the guilt and pain of an abortion, and one other intercessor to pray. To avoid overwhelming the timid woman, the team only had three workers involved in the session.
The meeting started with the question, “What would you like the Lord to do today?”
Beth had kept the abortion and abuse a secret. She was so desperate for total freedom that she confessed the trauma, and revealed that she always feels unworthy and unloved. She shared that would like to be free from the thoughts and guilt she carries and believes that she should tell her husband about the abortion, but is too fearful to do so.
With the knowledge of the abuse and the abortion, it would have been easy to start there, but the team allowed the Lord to guide the session.
Beginning the Prayer and Healing time
Because the team did not know what to target with Beth, they chose to ask the Lord to show her the trauma He would like to heal.
Had she never experienced deliverance, they may have started with repentance and forgiveness. They did not try to take her to a memory or suggest what she should say. The work that the Lord does is between He and the person receiving prayer. It is not our goal to take on a role of a counselor. The team prayed asked the Lord to show to Beth any memory He wanted to heal or any lie He wanted to break.
Memory Recall and Healing
Beth looked up and said softly, “I suddenly see two vivid pictures. The first one was my first day of school, I think. A girl walked up to me and grabbed my things. She threw them on the ground and stomped on them. She said bad words about me until It scared me.
The other memory happened about the same time. I was in my bedroom when I saw a shadow of a man come into my room. It scared me so much that I ran into where my parents were, but they sent me back to my room without even checking. They didn’t believe me. I got on my bed and pulled all my stuffed animals into my lap.”
Beth looked down with shame and said, “I still have the animals; I know it is weird, but I sometimes pull on the fur at night to go to sleep.”
Starting the healing
The team did not dig into the memory, deny it, or substantiate it. The first response was to show her kindness. They began to tackle one memory at a time. The goal was to connect Beth with Jesus who is the healer and deliverer. The leader, Maggie, asked, “Can we ask Jesus who you need to forgive relating to the memory on the first day at school?”
She said yes. Beth forgave the girl, herself, the teachers for not doing anything, the children who laughed, and her parents for not seeming to care about it. After releasing forgiveness, some of the tension in Beth seemed to disappear.
Maggie commanded all fear and intimidation that came in as a result to leave. Beth sighed as it left, then smiled. Sometimes we ask the Lord to come into that memory and just show the person what they need to know. We tested the healing and then moved on.
Testing the healing
When Beth first described the little girl scaring her in school, she was still fearful and felt timid. After forgiving and commanding the enemy to exit the doors he came in, Maggie asked Beth to purposely remember that first day of school. Beth smiled, “There’s no pain. I can remember what happened, but I don’t feel the shame or anger at the girl.”
Had she thought about the memory and felt shame, we would have asked the Lord to reveal what Beth needed to know to get the total healing.
Second memory
Maggie said, “You know, Beth. I believe you believe you saw something in your room that day. I’m sorry that no one believed you or they didn’t check it out.”
Beth wept softly and said, “Thank you.” Another layer of what was wounded was healed.
Beth forgave her parents and asked the Lord to heal her. That day, anxiety, shame, fear, and loneliness came in. Maggie asked the Lord to remove the power of that moment, remove fear, heal the memory, and remove the trigger.
Children are used to not being believed. No matter what she saw, it was real to her. It could have been a shadow from a piece of clothing moved by a fan or something spiritual. The little girl had been wounded by unbelief, so the team affirmed the girl, not the memory.
Resistance
As she was being healed, Beth began to fidget with her sweater. Instead of rubbing her fingers together, she moved them along the bottom of her garment.
One of the ministry workers got a word of knowledge and asked her, “Beth, did the fidgeting with your fingers and your clothes start the night you gathered the animals to you?”
Beth nodded yes.
Maggie kindly asked her if she would be willing to cut off her attachment to the stuffed animals.
She shook her head sadly as fear appeared in her facial features. A soul tie was revealed through the response.
Processing the Trauma
Beth began talking about what the animals meant to her. She named them all and took them everywhere she went. If she lost one, she became distraught and inconsolable.
In that moment, as Beth talked, the team was not ministering to an older woman. It was as if the little girl who felt unbelieved, abandoned, and intimidated was sitting before the team.
Maggie said gently, “It’s okay. I won’t make you give them up, and I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
Receiving the Healing
Maggie prayed, “Lord, you see the sweet, scared little girl who did not know to reach out for You. Thank you that she had toys she could grab. I know that you want to heal her. Would you go into that memory on her bed and reveal yourself to her.”
Beth closed her eyes as she described what she began to see: “I see Him. He is beautiful. He is holding me.”
Maggie said, “Thank you, Lord, for holding Beth and comforting the scared little girl.”
Beth began to weep and smile. She said she could see herself as a little girl looking at Jesus. One by one, she saw herself put her stuffed animals in his hands. After this, she put her hand in Jesus’s hand and watched the little girl walk away with him.
Beth exhaled and relaxed. Her smile was brilliant.
Maggie asked, “Could we cut the soul tie from the stuffed animals away now?”
Beth smiled happily, “Sure!” All of the prior fear and shame was gone.
Once the initial trauma was healed, the adult Beth could easily give up the false comfort. The transformation was instantaneous. Her features relaxed, and she stopped fidgeting with her sweater. Maggie tested the healing. She asked Beth to think back to sitting on her bed and see if the memory was different. Maggie said all she could see now was Jesus. There was no fear and no feelings of being unloved.
Team notes:
The two hours spent with Beth was tiring for her and the team. It was glorious, but taxing enough the team decided to not to dive into the other issues.
Beth shared concern that she might grab a soft blanket or a stuffed animal if she could not sleep. We encouraged her to pray and seek the Lord and refuse shame.
Several days later, she reported that all of the fidgeting was gone, and she was sleeping without the old substitute comfort.
After Beth rested and walked out her newfound freedom for a couple of weeks, she mustered up the courage to tackle the abuse issues and the shame from the abortion. Today, Beth is free and continues to walk out her deliverance.
