Emotional Triggers-When Healing Meets Old Wounds 🦋🤍

Sometimes the reaction is bigger than the moment. That’s not weakness — it’s a trigger touching an old wound. And God wants to heal that place too.

Day 19 — Emotional Triggers 🤍

#40DaysToWholeness #BeautifulMe #HealingJourney #TraumaHealing #EmotionalHealing #FaithAndHealing #MentalHealthAwareness #InnerHealing #WholenessJourney

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome back to the Beautiful Me Empowerment Ministry Podcast, a space for healing and growth and transition. Of course, I'm your host, Monique Anderson, and today we're on day 20. We're halfway through the 40-day journey of sanctification to wholeness. Today, we're gonna talk about emotional triggers when healing meets old wounds. Hallelujah, Father. Thank you, Daddy. You're so awesome, God, Holy Spirit, we acknowledge your awesome presence in this place, and even in this moment, Holy Spirit, we ask you to take full control. May Moni decrease in this moment, and Holy Spirit, you take full control and speak through me. Hallelujah. In this moment, Abba Father, I repent of my sins. I ask you, oh God, to wash me and cleanse me and remove everything from me, God, that does not reflect you, that does not represent you, Abba Father. I ask you to search me, oh God, know my heart, know my thoughts, see if there be some wicked ways in me. Cleanse me, oh God, from every sin and all unrighteousness and set me free, Abba Father. God, I ask you this morning to create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me, but restore to me the joy of thy salvation and renew a right spirit within me, Abba Father. God, I want to thank you, oh God, this morning for a new day. With grateful heart, oh God, I come in your presence. Thank you, oh God, for who you are and who you have been to each and every one of us, to every listener. Father, we thank you for how far you have been walking us through this journey. We thank you, God, for the courage to repent. We thank you for purifying our hearts. We thank you, God, for renewing our minds. And even in this moment, we declare that we have the mind of Christ. Hallelujah. We thank you, God, for restoring our identity. Thank you for teaching us forgiveness and boundaries and discernment. God, you have been faithful. Faithful, God. You've been faithful through every step. And we want to thank you this morning that you are close to the brokenhearted and you save those who are crushed in spirit. And so today, God, we invite you into the deeper places of our hearts. Father, the places where old wounds are still sensitive, we ask you to bring healing. God, where emotional triggers still live, we ask you to bring peace. And we declare today that our past does not control our present. Our wounds will not define our future because you are healing what once hurt us. Thank you, mighty God. Holy Spirit, help us respond with wisdom instead of reacting from pain. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Hallelujah. Amen and amen and amen. One of the most surprising things about healing is that even after progress, certain moments can still trigger emotional reactions. You might feel a sudden wave of anger or sadness or fear, and sometimes the reaction may feel stronger than the situation itself. And you may wonder why that affect me so deeply? Often, the reason is that something in the present moment touched a wound from the past, and these moments they are called emotional triggers, and we all have our different triggers. A person who has been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, or a person who struggles with anger management, they will tell you one of the things as you go into counseling, you know, or therapy, if we want to use that word, you will learn to identify your triggers, right? So a trigger is anything that activates an emotional memory stored inside you. It may be a tone of voice, it may be even a person who looks um almost identical or looks like has features of a person in your past who hurt you. I remember I had a student one day, her grandfather had passed, and she felt as if she had to, you know, be the strong one, be strong for mommy and daddy and the whole family. So she held everything inside, even though there was emotional turmoil. She was hurting, she was wounded because she was so close to grandpa, but she did not grieve because she held it all in, because she felt like she had to be strong for the rest of the family, and so six months later, there was a loud scream in the parking lot, and when we we we went to her, apparently there was another gentleman who had dropped off his child to school, and he was the splitting image of grandpa, and that triggered her instantly because she had it touched up a wound from her past, and she had not grieved, and so a trigger again is anything that activates an emotional memory stored inside you, and it may be a tone of voice, and I was sharing the other day with somebody that in my marriage, the you know, the old Blackberry phone, yeah, and you know the the ping, the sound that it would make when a message comes in, and I was so traumatized by some of the messages that were in my ex-husband's phone, that even after we separated, because those messages they really hurt me so bad. Uh, I can laugh about it now because God indeed heals the broken heart. Oh God, and he sets us free, and he you the son has set free, hallelujah, is truly free indeed, and I am indeed free and healed, but still healing, hallelujah! Glory to God, and so uh, I would I would be going to work and I'm in the taxi and somebody's phone goes off a ping. And let me tell you something, I start hyperventilating, and just flashbacks, like I could see the the images of different women in his phone, and at that point, you know, I was struggling with low self-esteem, and you know, just having a baby uh C-section at that, and I was very overweight. I did not like who I saw in the mirror when I looked at myself. So imagine seeing all of these ladies in his phone, you know, slim and trim and nicely shaped and everything. I was so insecure, and even just the messages that were in his phone that he was exchanging with these women, it was painful. Oh my god, it ripped my heart apart. But thanks be to God again this morning for healing. And so when I was in the taxi going to work, um, and hear a phone go off, a blackberry ping. Oh my god, it was as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest over and over and over and over again. It was so painful, and up until today, you know, as I said, I was sharing with somebody the other day that my phone is, and I've healed, my phone is hardly ever on ring. My phone don't ring, it's almost always on silent or vibrate, but I mean I hear other people's phone, you know, pinging and all of that, and it doesn't affect me anymore. But once upon a time, I tell you that that was my trigger, right? And a trigger for you, maybe a certain type of criticism, feeling ignored or rejected and being misunderstood. You know, sometimes I have children uh in my space who they will come and they will be so distraught. And I said, What is happening? and they said, Miss, you know, either my friend or the teacher said something to me that triggered an emotional, it was an emotional trigger because my mom says this to me. My mom said, I'm not going to be anything in life. My mom said I'm not gonna pass this, and those words, listen, words have power, parents who are listening. Please speak life into your parents, please speak life into other people's children as well. Words have power, and you don't know the damage that is being done to these young people who are struggling so much in this um microwave society, right? And they would say, Miss, you know, when teacher said it, it just reminds me about the same thing that my mom says at home, and it hurts feeling misunderstood, children in class, and even us ourselves, you know, you're trying to explain something, but another person keeps saying, No, that is not true, that is a lie, I don't want to hear anything from you, they hear this at home. Mommy says, I don't want to hear anything from you, and um, and and um this is what happened, and so they feel like they're not heard, they're not seen, and then now they go out there in the classrooms, etc. And they hear the same thing, they are called emotional triggers. Something small in the present can activate something deeper in the past. Triggers are not evidence that healing has failed, but they are signals that healing is still happening, and it is okay. Let me put this out there that it is okay to feel men and women of God, daughters and sons of the of the king, it is okay to feel your emotions are valid, your feelings are valid. Yeah, it is okay to feel. Psalm 147 verse 3 reminds us he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. This verse reminds us that God acknowledges wounds. Scripture does not pretend pain does not exist, as a matter of fact, every single thing that we go through on a daily basis, just check the Bible. Moses has gone through something, David has gone through something, Jesus Himself, he has gone through so much. The Bible tells us that he is our high priest, and every single thing that we suffer here on earth, the Bible says we suffer with Christ because Christ has gone through every single thing that we go through on a daily basis. So the Bible does not pretend like pain not exists. God's response to wounded heart is healing. So he steps right into the pain with you. He is not a distant father, he's going to step into the wreckage with you, he's going to step into the heartbreak with you, he's going to step into the depressed feelings with you, he is going to step in those wilderness situations with you. Hallelujah. He is going to step right in with you, and he is going to you now have to partner with him and say, All right, God, thank you for meeting me right where I am. How do we move forward? What is it that you want to want to do in my life? I surrender everything, and there is this song that I've always played as I was going through my journey. Lord of mercy, uh, it says, Jesus, he heals you where you are, Jesus, he sees your secret scar, all the love you're longing for. Jesus, the friend of a wounded heart. Hallelujah. I don't know who might be listening to this at any point in time. I just want you to know this morning that you are not alone in your wounds. Jesus is right there with you, and he is indeed the friend of a wounded heart. There's a saying that says, Jesus stick closer than a brother. He climbs up into that bed of brokenness with you. I remember when I was experiencing uh brokenness last year or so, and I said, Holy Spirit, I want you to just come up in this with me. I curled up like a little ball in the bed, and I was just bawling and I said, Holy Spirit, I'm asking you to just wrap your loving arms around me, please. Just help me to feel your warmth, just help me to know that you are right there with me. And let me tell you, the gentleman of a Holy Spirit that we know he crawled up in that bed with me and he held me. Hallelujah. So I want you to know that you're not alone. Just as physical wounds take time to recover, just remember that emotional wounds also require time and care. And we can look at David throughout the Psalms. David openly expressed his emotions to God, he shares grief, anger, fear, and frustration. Yet he continually brings those emotions back into alignment with faith. He went right back to the source. He went right back to God. Sorry, because yeah. David shows us that emotional responses, they're not sinful. Women of God and men of God, stop telling our boys that they are coward or they are weak for showing emotions. Stop. What matters when you are in those spaces is how we respond to them. I mentioned this the other day that a lot of times when we see so many angry men who end up beating their woman and well, their woman, and sadly, it it turns out into murder, and sometimes those relationships end because of the abuse. It is because our men and our boys are constantly being told that crying is weakness, feeling is weakness, expressing your emotion is weakness, and big men don't cry, and boys don't cry. Lie. David. David shows us that emotional responses are not sinful. Jesus wept, he became emotional. It is important to feel and release those emotions. Right? So when a painful event happens, the brain records the experience along with the emotions attached to it, and later, when something similar occurs, the brain may activate that memory automatically. And this is why a present situation can produce a reaction that feels bigger than the moment itself. The brain is not is not just responding to the current event, but it is responding to the memory connected to it. Triggers, triggers are our nervous system's attempt to protect you from what it once perceived as danger. And the other day I mentioned you being sick, and if you start taking medication, immediately your body's going to try to fight it. Because it's like this thing that is coming in, it is foreign to me. Because the reason you got sick in the first place was because something, a virus, a foreign thing entered your system. And so because it was new to the system, the system started fighting it, but somehow you ended up still catching a cold. Yeah? And so now when a medication is introduced, the body is going to be like, Oh my god. Um, it was just the other day that this foreign object came and took control. So here comes another foreign object coming in, and so your body may respond initially negatively towards that medication. You will probably feel worse before you even feel better. It is because the the nervous system natural response is to is to is to see these things as danger. Anything foreign is danger, and so it triggers a response. But as healing progresses, so as you keep taking the medication, the body now realizes you learn it learns to pause and recognize what is happening internally and understand that okay, this is not danger, this is not danger, this is something that is gonna help me. So it starts responding, and you realize that slowly you start feeling better. So instead of reacting automatically, you know, become aware of the deeper emotion underneath. That's what happens when we are triggered. Yeah, God does not reject our emotion. Always remember that. I said it earlier. God meets us in our emotions, and throughout scripture, we see people bringing their feelings honestly before him. Stop sugarcoating your prayers when you go into God's presence. God cannot heal what you refuse to name. Stop putting bandage or telling him half truth. Be honest before him. Jesus Himself again, he experienced deep emotions. He wept, he grieved, he felt sorrow. And this is to show us that emotional experiences are part of human condition. The goal of healing is not to eliminate emotions, but the goal is to allow God to heal the wounds. Beneath them. Hallelujah. And so as we grow spiritually, we learn to bring our emotional responses to God instead of allowing them to control our actions. And this is important as we are walking in this season of wholeness. Triggers reveal areas that may still need healing. And remember that you can be healed and healing at the same time. Healing is a long, it is a lifelong journey. So instead of responding to your triggers with shame, notice them. Respond with them with curiosity and ask yourself what emotion just surfaced? What memory might this moment be touching? What part of my story might still need healing? Triggers are invitation. They show us where God still wants to restore peace. And remember that God wants us whole. Mind, body, soul, spirit. He wants you to enjoy the version of you that is no longer in survival mode, but the version of you that He has created to walk in purpose to experience peace, to experience joy. So today I want you to take a moment to reflect. What situations tend to trigger strong emotional reactions in me? As I said to you, it used to be messages coming in, the ping of the phone. And again, I am so grateful to God that He has healed me from that. So ask yourself or reflect what past experiences might those reactions be connected to? And how can I bring those moments honestly before God? And this is where we activate the Holy Spirit. Awareness is the first step toward healing. Hallelujah. Father, we want to thank you for meeting us in our emotions. Help us, Daddy, to recognize when old wounds are speaking. Give us wisdom to pause instead of reacting. Heal the places in our hearts where pain still lives and continue restoring our mind, our emotions, and our identity. Lead us, Daddy, deeper into wholeness in Jesus' name. Amen and amen and amen. Just remember that triggers are not signs that healing has failed, they are reminders that healing is still unfolding. And tomorrow we will continue learning on how to respond to our emotions with wisdom and grace. Until then, just remember, I love you, but God loves you even more. Share the podcast, follow, like, and God bless you. Have a good day.