Welcome to Mission EDIFY

Drawing from the insights of Aquinas on “the passions,” i.e., feelings, emotions, and desires, and Ignatian spirituality - “finding God in all things,” Mission EDIFY infuses artistic sensibility into biblically principled classes and retreats that are trauma-informed in approach, practical in application, and sensitive to religious wounding.

    • “Trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”
      (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment; U.S.)

    • “An event is traumatic if it is extremely upsetting, at least temporarily overwhelms the individual’s internal resources, and produces lasting psychological symptoms” (Briere & Scott, 2015).

  • Within the realm of lived experience perspectives, trauma-informed Bible application explores how specific passages, principles, and promises can be applied to foster both spiritual and mental health.

    *Wendy’s class series on forgiveness has been vetted by professionals in psychology, theology, and consistent with the tenets of her faith.

  • It is widely known that trauma is the leading cause of compromised mental health in America.

    As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encourages the establishment of mental health ministries in faith communities, the effects of and therefor instinctual responses to trauma must be explained in light of Sacred Scripture in a non-theological language.

    *This is a sustainable entry point.

  • 1 Bible verse:

    “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14).

    + lived experience (by yours truly)

    x by the words of St. Augustine of Hippo:

    “In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.”

    = Mission EDIFY

“Let us then, make it our aim, to work for peace and to edify one another” (Romans 14: 19.)

There is an everydayness to healing and forgiveness that I have come to embrace in the refuge of Christ, our Gentle Healer. Without shame or despondency, I concede that healing is progressive. Twenty years ago I balked at the notion. I desired instantaneous freedom from the effects of trauma. (Lots and lots of trauma.) Alas, God’s will for some was not God’s will for me.

Today, the miracle I celebrate is the constancy of Unfailing Love as I journey towards heaven as a faithful yet flawed human being. It’s true — nothing is wasted in God’s economy. Since 2013 I have written and facilitated classes in women’s outreach communities on a variety of topics, but the one I love most is the one I once hated.

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