Combat:Shattering of the soul

How can there be a loving God when He allows all of this? This is what they wonder when they have not only witnessed the worst humanity is capable of, they were participants in it. The ability to feel anything sprung from the depth of their souls is an indication that God was right there with them, but they didn't see Him. They stopped looking for Him in the midst of carnage.

To translate the aftermath of combat with what humans have been told about God, never seems to make any sense at all. They fail to see that humans have been provided with freewill and some will use that freewill for good while others use it for evil. Those with the ability to care, to feel compassion and grieve are what is best of mankind. They have the best of what God created within their soul but if they have the wrong image of God, the wrong understanding or a weak understanding of Him, they think it's more of a curse and God is not good. The goodness inside of them came from a loving God. Yet this same goodness is the root of all the pain they feel especially when they do not understand it. The gift of compassion allows them to feel more but they were also enabled with great courage so they could act on that compassion.

What good does it do a man to feel compassion for someone else, but have no courage to act?

A child standing in the middle of a road with a truck heading right for the child needs someone to want to save them. A man with compassion sees this, feels compassion but without the courage to do anything, they will just stand there. With the courage, they rush to save the child without any thought for themselves. Courage and compassion work in conjunction for good. They need to be reminded of this because some think if they have compassion, they are weak instead of the most courageous of all.

When they see this, they see God differently and see themselves differently. When their souls heal and the understand God's love as love instead of a curse, they are transformed and heal.

This is not about one denomination over another, nor is it about one faith over another. It is our own personal relationship with God that we thrive with or suffer from.

'Shattering of the soul'
By
Published: Apr 02, 2006 12:00 am
By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
More combat veterans seek help as counselors try to redefine post-traumatic stress disorder.

Take people 6,000 miles from home. Shoot at them. Blow stuff up. Hide the bad guys among the good.

Even normal men and women - brave and strong American soldiers - feel their emotions fray when they return home.

It seems easy to understand, until doctors put it in a medical book, label it "post-traumatic stress disorder" and try treating folks.

After years of clinical study of the way the brain changes under stress, doctors and psychologists have built a vocabulary around the issue. Symptoms are classified. Levels of anxiety are measured. Signs of "disassociation" are determined. Healing is marked by phases.

Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, Maine's adjutant general, issued orders this year for every National Guard member who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan to talk one on one with a counselor.

"We are all Type A's," Libby said. "Lots of us don't like talking about our feelings. We'd rather do something."

However, Libby knows the emotional healing needs to happen.

"These men and women have been forever changed by their experiences," said Libby, a veteran of the Vietnam War. "Thirty-eight years later, I am still struggling with my experiences."
read more here
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/76614