Our minds are fragile and mysterious things. One traumatic event can turn our whole theology upside down! To say a Christian never gets hit would be a big, old, fat lie. This is why Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the whole armor of God, so we can stand against the devil’s shenanigans!” Trust me—you continually NEED to be wearing the whole armor of God. We don’t take it off and put it back on each day.

What happens is, if we don’t keep things tight by continually renewing our minds, our armor tends to loosen up. Every hit we take from a fiery dart can knock a part of our armor loose. Before we even notice, the belt of truth has slipped and our pants have fallen off! We bend down to pull up our pants, and boom—the helmet of salvation is sideways on our head.

You may “know the Word” in your thinking—in the form of some short verse or witty sermon you heard Sunday morning at church. But when the devil sneaks up on you and sucker punches you, you find out what is really in you. Trust me—this is not the time to find out that you have not arrived.

Years ago, I experienced a sucker punch that shook me so hard I began to doubt everything I had been taught in the Word. One day my ministry was developing, my business was booming. I was traveling and always giving where God told me to give. You know—doing the work of the ministry and enjoying life.

I became busy! Sometimes too busy for my Jesus. One day I was on top of the world, the next day I woke up to find my bank account empty, my business shut down.

Long story longer: the stress of more bills coming in than there was money overtook me in fear. It was like someone placed me in a slingshot and fired it. I felt like I was mentally spinning through the air, not knowing when or where I would land.

It was the strangest thing: in my spirit I was in complete peace, but my physical body was an anxious ball of nerves! I thought it would never end. Little by little, through constant prayer and the Word, my mind began to slowly be renewed. And when I say slowly, that is the reason for this article.

On three different occasions over about a four-year period, I had different people speak basically the same word of the Lord over me. The word was simply that they saw God was about to catapult me into my ministry with full force and to enjoy the ride. This is an exciting word! However, upon hearing it, anxiety would bring back a memory of being catapulted with my arms flailing toward a huge mountain of poverty-stricken, dirty junk. I would think, “I sure hope I miss that mountain.” And I meant it. I could not see past Trauma Mountain.

Some time passed, and I thought I had it all together mentally and spiritually. Then one day the thought of being catapulted into ministry crossed my mind, and suddenly I saw that same dirty mountain of poverty-stricken junk. I wasn’t spinning this time; I was just looking at it. Before, I would see it and go into a panic attack and try to block it out.

But this day, I was just looking at it—really looking at this mountain of unappealing, poverty-stricken junk—when I realized: this is the catapult blocker in my life keeping me from moving forward.

It was high time to take my freshly polished shield of faith, examine all my armor, and lay down all unforgiveness. I was angry at myself, and I was angry with God for letting this happen. The truth is, God bailed me out big time—and I see it clearly now.

Whoever came up with the cliché “Hindsight is 20/20” must have really been through it. Because after the fact, I could clearly see God’s orchestrated moves in repairing every area of this heinous attack on my life. But for the sake of shortening this article, I’ll spare you the details.

Removing Mount Trauma from our lives begins with perfect love. You see, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). God is love, and He is in you—if you have made Him Lord and Savior of your life. Dwell on His love for you. It is freeing. Then make Mark 11:22–26 your lifestyle. Take the steps of action in the scripture and put them into working knowledge in your life and in your Bible study time. These principles can be found throughout the Bible.

Action Steps from Mark 11:22–26

1. Have God’s faith.
2. Listen to His truth.
3. Speak to the mountain with great faith—command it to be removed.
4. Believe without doubting that what you say will happen.
5. Boldly believe in prayer—be convinced you have received it.
6. When you pray, release and forgive anyone in your heart.
7. Understand: if you refuse to forgive, God will not release you from your misdeeds.

Sometimes it takes the faith of God to forgive. But once we do, the sky is the limit. Trauma can shake our faith, but God provides a way through His Word and Spirit. By renewing the mind, wearing God’s armor, practicing forgiveness, exercising authority, and staying rooted in faith, we can remove the “mountains” blocking us from our God-given callings and move on to victory.

Mark 11:22–26 (TPT)
Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! Listen to the truth I speak to you: Whoever says to this mountain with great faith and does not doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—be convinced that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, if you find that you carry something in your heart against another person, release him and forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also release you and forgive you of your faults. But if you will not release forgiveness, don’t expect your Father in heaven to release you from your misdeeds.”