So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:16)
Jesus, help each of us often find a quiet place where we can pray.
[An art school project where I had to copy a famous drawing.]
Tuesday: 97, 99, [100]; * 94, [95]; Hosea 4:1-10; Acts 21:1-14; Luke 5:12-26
Wednesday: 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; * 119:121-144; Hosea 4:11-19; Acts 21:15-26; Luke 5:27-39
Notes from the Front Line
***** Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010
From: Noel Dawes
Subject:WHI West – Day 1 – Mon, Sep 27th
Welcome Home Initiative (WHI) Retreat West Day 1 – Monday, September 27th
( http://christ-the-king-center.org/WelcomeHome/)
To Our Faithful Welcome Home Initiative Intercessors!
Thank you so much for praying through the day with us today! We have truly felt the power of your prayers.
The day has gone very well and, as always, it was completely different in dynamics, tone and nature to any of the other 7 Retreats previously done at the Spiritual Life Center.
After a team meeting at 10:30 AM, followed by lunch, the 10 retreatants arrived and registered by mid-afternoon. The facilitators, trauma counselor and triage nurse were already there and we noticed the really good interaction amongst us all right from the start. We hope to be joined by another spouse tomorrow as well as another Veteran on Wednesday, making a total of 22 participants altogether, including 7 Veterans (4 Army, 3 USAF). Our Veterans have served in combat in Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War), Operation Northern Watch, Grenada, the bombing at Khobar Towers, Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. Two active duty Chaplains are taking part.
Bishop Dave Bena introduced the Retreat and asked our host, Canon Mike Williams, to cover necessary housekeeping points. Mike is a WHI ‘alumni’ and a former USAF Chaplain with operational experience. We were led in worship by Bishop Derek Jones, another WHI ‘alumni’ (who has the gift of being able to lead us in the right song with the most appropriate of words for the moment). We introduced ourselves briefly to each other and considered the question, “What do you hope the Lord will do for you during this retreat?” Some want to find healing, others want to learn and be equipped to serve others with similar trauma wounds better. A couple of folk weren’t really sure why they came. Please pray that the Lord will meet the desires of the hearts of all present and make His purposes clear to those who are unsure.
Bishop Dave led a discussion about the experiential aspects of trauma and asked in what ways did we react to what he had said. Most of us identified with Dave’s experiences in one or more ways, for example, the inappropriate and often sudden sense of rage or the wrong diagnosis of a trauma leading to the wrong medications. The need to forgive was mentioned more than once as a key aspect of healing. Another person said how healing comes day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute as we open our lives up to Jesus (actually sudden and substantial healing has also been our experience too). Someone said that PTSD can never be cured. Later, another said that the trauma that caused the PTSD will always be there and cannot be hidden but that our experience shows that the affect, PTSD or lesser depths of trauma, can be healed by Christ the Healer. Debriefing or talking about traumatic situations was highlighted several times as being essential and someone else found writing poetry to be healing.
We thanked the team of 5 very warm hearted ladies who are preparing the meals and had an excellent meal of barbecued beef and potato salad followed by key lime pie and ice cream. We assembled back in the discussion room and considered the question of what works in finding healing for trauma. A lively discussion ensued which raised the question of how faith helps us to be resilient and deal with trauma in better ways. It seems that trauma is often a reaction to a situation which has assaulted one’s core value system and that seemed to carry significance for several of us. After considering different ways some of us deal spiritually with danger, we concluded the evening with prayer at about 8 PM.
Talking of prayer, we must mention again the overriding power of intercession and our encouragement to each of you to pray persistently and with even greater fervor. As we do so, we are exceedingly grateful to the small (3 or 4) ‘on site’ who prayed us through today.
There is a team meeting at 7:30 AM and, after continental breakfast our program starts at 9 AM. Many participants find the second day to be an emotional one, especially in the afternoon. Please pray for openness to the Holy Spirit’s desire to see each of us made whole in Christ.
Albany Intercessor
