When My Body Still Remembers

God who draws near to the brokenhearted, The event has passed, but part of me still feels trapped within it. A sound, image, place, or memory can bring the fear rushing back. My body reacts before I can explain what is happening. Meet me without impatience. You do not despise the ways I learned to survive. Lead me gently from survival toward safety, connection, and healing. Help me recognize that remembering danger is not the same as being in danger now. Give me grounding in the present and trustworthy people who will not pressure me to heal on their timetable. Guide me toward qualified, trauma-informed care and wise pastoral support. Give me courage to tell the truth without forcing myself to tell everything at once. Where I carry shame for what happened or for how I responded, speak Your mercy. Where anger and grief remain, receive them honestly. Restore what fear has narrowed in my life. I ask not merely to forget, but to become free—to remember without being ruled, to live without constant alarm, and to receive joy without fearing its loss. In the compassionate name of Jesus, amen.