b'PainWill the trauma I have endured ever go away? H elping people through traumatic events is critical to successful human living. But it must be done through proper expectations and sound counseling. Those who have been through forms of abuse (sexual, mental, emotional, or physical) need individualized treat-ment and unique care because every person deals with trauma differently. There are behavior patterns, but within these patterns are thoughts, feelings, and actions distinguished by each person.Helping someone who walks through the pain of alcohol or substance use disorder and who has also experienced trauma requires us to recognize that for the individual to experience well-being, we must help them set realistic expectations during the recovery process and life beyond. The earlier (and better) we help individuals, the more likely their trauma becomes less impactful over time. We must support the person in building their belief that the physical pain will subside(1 Peter 1:67). King Solomon wrote that our (it may never go away entirelyan expectationstrength is small if we faint on a day of adversity we must ensure they understand). When we dont(Proverbs 24:10). Adversity, pain, and suffering set the appropriate expectations, we could set theall build resiliency if we let them. The biblical person up for future relapse or failure becauseworldview acknowledges that pain is inevitable, they thought differently. and we grow and mature when we endure it well. The biblical response: The Christian philoso-pher C. S. Lewis wrote, Try to exclude theValueWill I ever have value as a possibility of suffering which the order of naturehuman being? and the existence of free will involve, and youT he need to feel valued is part of the fabric find that you have excluded life itself. In thisof being human. It is in our DNA. How statement, Lewis implies that suffering is integraldo we help people feel valued even amid to life, whether by unforeseen circumstances ortheir suffering? Philosophers have been actively by choice (free will). The response to those whodiscussing existential questions, such as the value have suffered dramatically is not to find a way toof life, since before Socrates and Plato. What erase the pain but, more importantly, to learn andmost agree on is the definition of intrinsic value. grow from the experience of pain. The ApostleIntrinsic value has been characterized in terms of Peter wrote of the various trials we go through the value that something has in itself, or for its in life and how they test our character and faithown sake, or as such, or in its own right. \x02 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024WWW.CITYGATENETWORK.ORG 11'