A Pastor’s Experience of Trauma

Pastor and leader of the 24/7 Prayer movement Pete Greig reflects on the initial moments of realizing his wife, only in her late twenties, needed to have surgery to repair a orange-sized tumor from her brain. This is what he says about the trauma that took place:

I have talked to others about their experiences of trauma, and it is remarkable how often the crisis throws us upon God—whether or not we had faith in Him before. Suddenly, we are jolted into a state of intense vulnerability, and instinctively reach for another hand. Trauma itself rarely creates a crisis of faith.

Hospital lights are just too bright to house the dark night of the soul. During the initial trauma of a car crash or a betrayal or a diagnosis like ours, we are simply too shocked and too scared to ask grave theological questions about unanswered prayer.

For me, at least, those questions would come in the weeks, months, and years of weary believing that lay ahead. But back then, at that terrifying moment, I simply sat by Sammy’s bed, waiting for her to wake, needing my best friend, watching her breathe, feeling lonely, frightened, and held.