“What is this session about?” the woman asked. She sat in the ballroom listening but not engaging in the small talk. We had fifteen minutes before my session on Faith & Trauma was about to begin. I was asking everyone what positions they held. I knew this ministry conference would have Catholic school teachers, CCE teachers, middle school and high school youth ministers and anyone and everyone involved in ministry in some aspect within the parish community. As the room began to fill up I wanted to know who was interested enough to come to the session at 3pm on the last day of the conference.
Thankfully the room filled with people that felt the topic was worth being educated about – not being afraid to hear about abuse and to open the lines of communication on the topic.
When the woman asked what the session was about I gave a brief overview.
“What do you qualify as Trauma? I was walking by and saw your session name and figured since I received the news yesterday at 1:41pm I have an aggressive form of breast cancer I thought maybe this is where I need to be.”
My heart stopped. “I would definitely consider facing that sort of news as traumatic. I’m so sorry,” I said. “You were here when you found this out?”
She shook her head. “No, I was supposed to be at the conference yesterday but had the doctor’s appointment. It was 1:41pm when she told me the news.” She made a point to stress the time.
1:41pm. This is the exact moment her life took a turn. She sat before me recognizing this was her moment to either react or respond. And that time will forever be in the thread of her tapestry of life.
Two weeks before my 17th birthday. That’s my ‘moment’. I say that same phrase every time I bring up when my life took a dramatic turn. I reacted for nearly a decade before I learned to finally ‘respond’ with faith.
Five minutes before the official session would begin I encouraged her of her strength through her faith. One of the first mistakes people make when they hear someone else tell them of the trauma they’ve experienced is to have an internal reaction of despair. Sometimes we can’t help but think “What would I do if this were my traumatic experience? and we show and outward emotion of the thought. It then causes the other person who is actually going through the trauma and who is trying to find the encouragement they need to keep calm and push through to feel fragile and unsure.
“Here you are at the conference the very next day. That tells me you are a fighter and aren’t going to let this news take you down,” I said.
She smiled. “You got it. No sense in me worrying about a lot of unknowns. I meet with the doctors again next week and we’ll have more tests back by then. I’ll take it as it comes.”
“God is with you in every moment,” I encouraged. “What is your name and I’ll pray for you?”
“Monica,” she said and smiled.
Monica is amazing and I know she is a fighter who is walking with God in every moment and being a light of his love and strength to all of those around her who don’t know how to fathom receiving such traumatic news.
Please join me in praying for Monica and her family.
Blessings
Shannon