How do people recover from trauma? Can the Bible help? What can the church do?
Life is not easy, and bad things happen to all of us – including children – that cause our hearts to be wounded. Unattended wounds of the heart can result in poor health, bad behavior, depression, violence, difficulty in school and many other negative symptoms.
This five-day Healing Hearts Club Camp offers children ages 8 through 13 an opportunity to learn about the wounds of their hearts and teaches them how to understand their heart pain in a way that can move them toward healing. They learn through stories, games, art and music with specially trained teachers in small groups of children their own age. As they share their own stories, they make new friends in a safe, fun and welcoming environment, and they learn about God as the One who can heal the wounds of their hearts.
Northland is hosting a Healing Hearts Club Camp this summer break, and our facilitators are preparing for a full camp. They will help guide the campers through understanding and externalizing the pain of heart wounds and teach them how to build resilience into their lives. The campers will explore why they are important to God and why bad things happen. They will learn how to put words to their feelings and navigate the difficulties of loneliness and grief. Then they will learn how to set good boundaries and build their lives well through the choices they can make. Finally, they will learn to take their pain to the cross and ask Jesus to help them forgive.
In the past, students who were struggling to connect with their families and peers came into the healing camp downtrodden and full of rage. The first day, they were so angry they refused to participate at all. Slowly they began to open up and even felt safe enough to explain that they were so angry because what had happened to them was unfair. We gently encouraged them, saying that it was unfair and that they deserve love, joy, respect and the ability to feel safe.
About halfway through the week, we saw a breakthrough. They began to interact with the other students, and we watched as they blossomed into fun-loving children.
By the end of the camp, we were overjoyed to see them laughing, playing and developing meaningful relationships with the other students. On the last day of camp, none of the students wanted to leave. As facilitators, we left hopeful because we had seen the beginning of life transformation. Although we know that healing a wounded heart is a lifelong journey, we were confident that these students now had the tools they needed to succeed.
Please join us in praying for this amazing transformational camp, the children who will be attending, and our facilitators and interns.