Healing PTSD

I received an e-mail from a man named José who is a missionary to Uganda. He had read several of my books and wanted to know if I might help his son, who was a paramedic firefighter who developed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and could no longer work. José said he would be in our area for a few weeks and wanted to know if I would meet with him and his son for prayer. I agreed and we set up a time to meet at a city park.

The day we agreed to meet had arrived. I parked and walked toward a picnic table where two men were sitting, one older and one younger. They got up as they saw me approaching. We shook hands and introduced ourselves then sat down at the table. José, thanked me for coming to meet with them. His son, David and I talked for 20 minutes about his work as a paramedic and his separation from the fire department due to PTSD. I explained my process for emotional healing and asked if he wanted to give it a try. He agreed. I explained that I needed him to recall some of the more painful events from his career. “Where you want to start?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Just pick a call you went on that’s especially painful when you think about it.”

“I was working on the engine one night and we went on this call for a motor vehicle accident. It never should have happened. The kid was just being stupid. He went out and got drunk. Then he drove his car into a tree. I was first on scene. The car was ripped in half and he was laying there, a bloody mess. There was nothing we could do to save him.”

“Okay David, as you think about this call, what emotion is the strongest?”

His eyes searched the trees behind me. “Grief. Just a lot of grief for his family.”

“Okay, just repeat everything I say. Jesus, I ask you to take this grief from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul. I receive your healing. In place of grief, I ask you to give me peace.” He repeated everything I said. “Okay, now I want you to think about the call one more time. You’re on the engine responding to the call. You arrive on scene and find the car ripped in half and this dead kid there. What emotion do you feel now?”

“Sadness. Just a lot of deep sadness.”

“Okay, repeat after me again: Jesus, I ask you to take this sadness from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul from it. I receive your healing. In place of sadness, I ask you to give me joy.” He repeated my words again. “Okay, now I want you to think about the call again. You arrive on scene and find the car torn in half and this dead kid there. What emotion do you feel now?”

David looked down for a moment, then looked at me. “Nothing. The sadness and grief are gone. I don’t feel anything. Maybe a sense of peace.”

“It’s pretty simple isn’t it?” I asked. “Isn’t Jesus awesome?”

“Yes he is.”

“I want you to remember another call you went on that is especially painful when you think about it.”

“It was Christmas day and I was on the engine again. We responded to this house. The family had gathered for the holidays and the grandfather tripped and fell. His knee came down on this baby’s head and squashed it like a football. The parents were crying and there was a lot of emotion. I knew the kid was dead and there was nothing we could do to help them. But I told the family I would start an IV and we would do what we could.”

“As you think about this call, what emotion do you feel?”

“Grief. Just a lot of grief for the family.”

“Okay, Jesus, I ask you to take this sadness from me.” He repeated what I said.  “I ask you to heal the wound in my soul. I receive your healing. In place of sadness, I ask you to give me joy.” He repeated my words again. “Okay, now I want you to think about the call again. You arrive on scene and find this dead kid. What emotion do you feel?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I can’t believe it. Is it really that easy?” He  asked smiling.

“It is that easy. I’m friends with a lot of people around the world who study healing. We all know the Bible verse that says ‘by his stripes we are healed.’ But few people think about the verse before it that says ‘he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.’ Griefs and sorrows are emotions that are painful. If Jesus bore them for us, there’s no reason for us to carry them any longer, is there?”

“I guess not.”

We spent about 30 minutes recalling one event after another, identifying the painful emotions and giving them to Jesus. I explained that the process is simple enough that he could do it without me. I encouraged him to continue recalling painful events from the past and giving the emotions to Jesus. I explained that it works on present emotions as well as ones from the past. “It’s hard to go through life without becoming offended or hurt by the things people say. If we allow things to wound us, it gives the enemy a place to attack us. But if we give the emotions to Jesus right away, it keeps us at peace. As soon as you recognize a new emotional wound, you might consider asking Jesus to take the painful emotion and heal you.”

I asked David if he had any physical pain he wanted to be healed of. “Yeah, both of my shoulders are sore all the time. I think I might have torn rotator cuffs.”

“Have you had an MRI yet?”

“Not yet. But I know the symptoms.”

I had him stand up. “Raise your left arm out to your side as high as you can until you feel pain.” He raised his arm a little higher than 90 degrees then put it back down. I placed my hand on his left shoulder. “Holy Spirit, bring your power and presence. I command ligaments, nerves, tendons, bones, muscles, and cartilage to be healed in the name of Jesus. Spirit of pain, I command you to leave. Lord I thank you for your healing.” I asked him to raise his arm again. He was able to raise it straight up without any pain.

He began laughing. “Are you kidding me? That’s amazing.”

“Now let’s do the other one.” I had to pray over his right shoulder four times before all the pain left. (I don’t know why it is that an injury will be healed with the first prayer on one side of the body, but not on the opposite side.) We sat down at the table again and talked about the power and authority we have access to as believers. I brought along a copy of my book Divine Healing Made Simple. I handed it to him and told him he may want to begin reading it, if he wanted to know more about healing.

“My dad told me a lot about you. I really want to start living the supernatural life. Thanks for the book. I’m definitely going to start reading it.”

“You do that. And if you ever have any questions, you know how to get a hold of me.” It was getting late and I needed to get back home. We all got up from the table. I gave José and David a hug. They went to their truck and I got in my Jeep. I love seeing people healed, but there was something special about being able to help a fellow paramedic who has been through the same kind of trauma I’ve been through. It was an afternoon I won’t soon forget.