What's an "amygdala"?

Updated: May 1, 2020

Inner Healing involves a process of "growth in grace" of reprogramming healing on every level. Healing of your mind and its distorted concepts, and healing of your relationships with all their disruptive contradictions. We need a deep healing of our memories to blot out destructive, slow-motion video replays that interfere with our life. Emotional trauma damages a persons psychological being after an event that overwhelms their natural "ability to cope". The brain science behind trauma is that, when an event that produces these intense emotions happens, that emotion memory gets stored in the "amygdala"- which is an almond shaped mass of gray matter that is inside each cerebral hemisphere of the brain involved with the experiencing of emotions. It is responsible for such perceptions as fear, anger, sadness, as well as the controlling of aggression. the amygdala helps to store memories of events and emotions so that an individual may be able to recognize similar events in the future. If you have ever asked yourself, "why do I feel stuck in this emotional pattern" or "why do I keep going around this same mountain, time after time" there is a good reason. Past painful emotions and the lies the enemy feeds us that produces even more fear and more fuel for the trauma and this produces "hyper-vigilance". How does someone, who's brain is in hyper vigilance and constant triggers receive peace? Through inner healing! Soteria Ministries teaches you to identify and replace any lies believed about yourself or God in the trauma, break any spiritual bondage surrounding the trauma, and invite the Lord's healing presence in to bring HIS truth, healing and victory over the emotional trauma. Therapists have, in the past, believed that it takes years for an individual to heal from trauma- but this is not true anymore. The Body of Christ is rising up and through classes similar to Soteria, are helping God's people get set free from the bondages of repressed or damaged emotions and memories. We are teaching people how to have victory in this area. With God's help, we don't want people to learn to cope and survive, but the learn how they can hope and thrive in the area of their emotions.

MANY THANKS FOR JOANNE LINANE FOR WORKING WITH ME TO HELP ME PRONOUNCE THIS WORD CORRECTLY!! WITHOUT HER I WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO MESS THE PRONUNCIATION UP REALLY BAD. :)

Inner Healing Through Forgiveness of Others, Oneself and God

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God … Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. - Ephesians 4:30-32

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. - Luke 6:37

The Holy Spirit is grieved by our grumbling, our complaining, our lack of kindness, our lack of deeply forgiving others from the heart, and we are sowing negative seeds by judging, condemning and not being willing to forgive. The reason the Holy Spirit is grieved is because He loves each of us so intensely, and He knows the great harm that will come into our lives and the lives of our loved ones from negative seeds of unforgiveness. Judging, condemning, complaining and unforgiveness are all intertwined. They are related to each other. They all indicate a lack of forgiveness.

What harm can come from such negative sowing of unforgiveness? Damaged health, broken marriages, ruined relationships with children, with other Christians, and with fellow employees are just some of the harmful effects that come to the unforgiving. Since forgiveness and the release of bitterness which it engenders are so important, we must learn what true forgiveness is, what it isn’t and how we can effectively forgive.

What Forgiveness Is Not

1. Forgiveness is not weakness, but strength.
2. Forgiveness does not restore trust, but opens the door to the possibility of reestablishing such trust. Forgiveness is a free gift. Trust must be earned.
3. Forgiveness often does not include a restoration of a relationship, friendship or marriage. You must forgive your divorced or separated spouse, ex-prayer partner, ex-boss or ex-pastor, but the relationship often will not be restored.
4. Forgiveness is not condoning sin or saying that what was done is okay. If a person has sinned against you and/or God, he or she is guilty and must answer to God. He has said:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. - Romans 12:19 

Personal Daily Affirmations

1. 
   Jesus is Lord over my spirit, my soul, and my body. (Phil 2:9-11)
2. Jesus has been made unto ME wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. (I Cor 1:30, Phil 4:13)
3. The Lord is MY Shepherd; I do not want. My God supplies ALL of my need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Ps 23, Phil 4:19)
4. I am the Body of Christ. I AM redeemed from the curse for Jesus bore my sicknesses and He carried my diseases in His own body. By His stripes I am healed. I forbid any sickness or disease to operate in MY body. Every organ, every tissue of my body functions in the perfection in which God created it to function. I honor God and bring glory to Him in my body (Gal 3:13, Matt 8:17, I Peter 2:24, I Corinthians 6:20).
5. I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a physical body, My spirit is the candle of the Lord . God, m Father, is guiding me into ALL the truth through HIS Word.
6. I am a child of God, born of the Spirit of God, filled with the Spirit of God, and led by the Spirit of God. I listen to my heart as I look to my spirit inside me.
7. The Holy Spirit gives direction to my spirit and illumination to my mind; He leads me in the way I should go in all my affairs of life. He leads me by an inward witness, The eyes of my understanding are being enlightened. WISDOM is in my inward parts. His love is perfected in me. I have an unction from the Holy One.
8. Father, you are MY refuge and my high tower and my stronghold in the times of trouble. I lean on and confidently put my trust in YOU; for YOU have not forsaken me who seeks YOU on the authority of Your Word and the right of my necessity. You lift me up when I am bowed down. I am strong and my heart takes courage. I establish myself on righteousness- right, in conformity with Your will and order. Satan, I resist you and every oppressive spirit in the name of Jesus. I resist fear, discouragement, self-pity- and depression. I speak the Word of Truth, in the power of God and I give you NO PLACE devil! I give no opportunity to you. I am delivered by the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore, I brace up and reinvigorate and cut through and make firm, plain and smooth, straight paths for my feet,- safe, upright and happy paths that go in the right direction. I shine and I am radiant with the glory of the Lord. I praise you Lord that the Joy of the Lord is my strength and stronghold!!
9. Father, in Jesus’ name, I confess and believe that no weapon formed against me shall prosper and ANY tongue that rises against me in judgment I shall show to be in the wrong. I believe I dwell in the secret place of the Most-High. I shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty God whose power NO FOE can withstand – this secret place hides me from the strife of tongues.

Anthem Church Inner Healing and Freedom Life Group 

Cast ALL Your Care

Updated: Apr 10, 2020

I Peter 5:7 in the Living Translation says: "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you". As I was laying in bed this morning praying, that scripture came to me. I gave my Wednesday evening life group a writing assignment for next week and I am participating as well about writing things down that have/are bothering you and you feel are hindering your inner healing. So, while I was praying this morning, I heard the Lord say to me, "practice what you preach". Hmmm, I thought I was doing that but obviously not. I started thinking back over the week and some things that transpired. One of them is I have had chest pains all week- I have issues with heart palpitations and even though my doctor tells me they are nothing to worry about, they are bothersome, so I have a certain medication that I will take when I feel them coming on. This week I haven't had them, but I have had the chest pains instead. Knowing the signs of a heart attack in women, I checked myself and I didn't have "those" symptoms. I even asked my daughter what were the symptoms of a "gall bladder" attack cause I thought THAT was the problem. It's not that I was looking for something to be wrong, I was just experiencing "discomfort" in a way I had never experienced. My neck hurt- my head hurt- in fact my whole body hurt. This morning in prayer He said these words to me, "You are not casting all of your care on Me". Well duh, I thought I was~~ but I realized I was being ANXIOUS. What? Seriously? I remembered something I read in a blog that said , "“Be anxious for nothing.” Philippians 4:6. Usually people are anxious about virtually everything. It’s a corrosive disease, like a snake slithering around in your thoughts, strangling your life in God. Your thoughts tumble around in a dark labyrinth, and the same destructive thoughts come up, over and over again. But when you cast all your burdens on the Lord, heaven opens up. Like a snake slithering around in my thoughts strangling my life in God? That is exactly what I was feeling! Now I know why He said I was not casting all of my care on Him. CAST comes from the Greek word "epiriptó", a verb meaning to literally throw, throw away, throw off. Instead of throwing away my cares, I was letting my cares and my thoughts slither around in my head like a snake, strangling my life in Jesus. My thoughts were tumbling around in my head in a "dark labyrinth". As I pictured myself in this dark labyrinth, I was walking into the walls, nope that wasn't the way out, so I was turning around trying to find the right path to lead me out of this darkness. During all of that the chest pains become more intense, my heart was pounding out of my chest- my head was pounding-the "same" symptoms I had been having, when those same words came back to me. "You are not throwing your care onto Me". I shared with my life group many weeks back how He said the very same thing to me as I had taken on care about another issue and I saw myself out in a lake, with waders and a fishing rod and reel. My "care" was a big pile of garbage that I put on the end of my hook and I "cast" (threw) that big pile of garbage to Him. This time is different- I had let the cares of the world and all of the "not knowing" get to me. I had let the feelings of being "cooped up" wreak havoc in me. I am a person who internalizes everything and that means I also keep my feelings to myself most of the time of whats going on inside of me. This time instead of it being a big pile of garbage I was casting off, it was much deeper- more intense. I was allowing myself to be "agitated and disturbed" by what I was reading on social media, in the news, etc to control my thoughts. I was letting actions by certain people in my house control my emotions, wanting to scream to the top of my lungs. It all became very evident-- I was having all of these symptoms because I was taking on care- about everything. Yes we are living in uncertain times. Yes we are in a pandemic situation. Yes we are being shaken to our very core. Yes there is fear and dread of the "unknown" but THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE BIBLE AND GOD ARE THE ABSOLUTE ONLY 2 THINGS WE CAN TRUST IN AND DEPEND ON! Hebrews 12:27 says "everything that CAN be shaken, WILL be shaken". As a woman, we try to figure things out, come up with a "way" to fix it. Well, this is NOT the sort of thing we can fix!! When I finally settled it in my mind and realized I was not the "fixer" in this situation, and threw (literally pictured myself THROWING every care onto Him) then peace-- peace that only HE can give settled over me, peace that not only calms the storm on the raging sea, but calms the storm inside of me. And I know all of the symptoms this physical body has been experiencing will be calmed too!~~ Blessings on you today!