Let the Little Children Come to Me
A Trauma Perspective
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
I have been meditating on this verse and truth lately in my spiritual healing journey. Today I want to share with you several ways this has played out in my life.
As someone with a significant history of childhood trauma, some things get in the way of my spiritual growth, which is understandable. Learning to trust the Lord has been one of those lessons I’ve had to learn repeatedly on many different levels. My attachment wounds caused me to turn away from help and from Jesus because I had the sense that help was not coming for me.
The trauma I experienced fractured my identity into many pieces, so there are a lot of little parts living inside me that don’t know the Lord like I know Him as an adult.
A big part of my healing journey involves introducing these Littles to Jesus. I want to pull back the curtain for a few minutes and give you an inside view of how this plays out in my therapy sessions.
Infant Introduction
I was working with my therapist on specific memories related to attachment wounds I experienced when I was really young. As the story goes, when I was several months old, my mom needed hernia surgery after suffering an injury at work. As a result, she was not allowed (on doctor’s orders) to hold or pick me up. My memory was of me as a baby in my crib, crying for comfort and connection, and no one coming to pick me up or soothe me.
Fast forward to another memory with my mother trying to soothe my baby brother, who was the same age I was in my first memory. According to my mom, he was a very colicky baby and challenging to soothe. I think I was a little over three, but seeing my mom holding my brother triggered the trauma I experienced as an infant when no one came to pick me up.
By the way, there is no shaming and blaming here. My mom did not intentionally neglect me. I know she would’ve picked me up if she could have, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t know anything about attachment and attunement…not many people did when I was a baby. She did the best she could with what she knew and the skills she had.
Even though I processed the emotions through EMDR for these two memories, I was still experiencing the effects of a core belief that no one would be there for me when I really needed them.
I have a therapeutic attachment with my therapist, but even she can’t be there for me 24/7/365. As I pondered that reality, it occurred to me (the Spirit’s leading, I’m sure) that the only one that could/would be there for me 24/7/365 was Jesus.
So, one day I went into therapy and told my therapist, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we need to use EMDR to introduce my baby self to Jesus, so she knows she can trust Him to be there for her. I love my therapist, especially because she goes along with all my crazy ideas. She assumes I know my system best and is there to support me. She said, “Let’s do it.”
We started the processing at the point of the memory of baby me being in the crib crying. I was watching the scene from a distance. I then introduced Jesus into the scene as a resource (EMDR uses resources to help support you through difficult emotions). He went over to the crib, spoke soothingly to baby me, took me into His arms, and comforted me. He spoke gently and quietly, telling me I was OK because He was here. Once He got me to stop crying, He held me facing Him, and I saw the kindest, most gentle eyes I had ever seen. He looked at me with love and adoration and laughed with a twinkle in His eye when I started playing with His beard. I could sense His delight in me.
My brain immediately flashed to the scene with my mother holding my brother and me feeling lonely and unloved when behind my seated mother stood Jesus. Three-year-old me recognized Him and held up her arms for Him to pick her up, and He did. Just like that, she no longer felt alone. Someone was there for her…it was Jesus.
Visualization has been a powerful tool in my healing process. This processing did so much to help me heal this attachment wound…it was amazing. Ever since that day, I’ve been able to turn toward Jesus and not away from Him; I’ve been able to turn toward support and not feel like I had to handle it on my own.
Continuing the Journey
As I said, I have many, many Littles in my system, and I have been working on introducing them to Jesus. I am doing a lot of inner child work to introduce them to the Savior, who loves, cares, comforts, and soothes them.
I use a lot of visualization and imagery to picture my Littles crawling up into Jesus’ lap to be held and comforted when their boo-boo was triggered. Jesus has been a soothing and very healing part of my journey.
When I have Littles that can’t rest because they are afraid of what happens when they stop moving, my therapist reminds me of the times when Jesus sat with them, held them, and comforted them, and it makes such a difference.
Let the Littles Come to Him
What about you? Do you have Little parts of yourself that are crying out for comfort, care, nurturing, soothing, or for someone to love them? Let the Littles come to Jesus…do not forbid them. His arms are open wide. He loves you and them with an everlasting love. He is always available.
I am so grateful for His healing presence in my life, and I would love to be able to share Him with you. If you don’t know Him and would like to, please get in touch with me. I would be honored to introduce you to Him.
As always, you don’t have to walk this healing journey alone. If you want to work with me, you can schedule your complimentary discovery session by clicking here. You’ve got this! I believe in you.
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