262. Alicia Johnson // Breaking Free from Pain and Trauma

Have you ever wondered if God could truly heal the deepest wounds of your past? In this episode, Alicia Johnson shares her powerful story of redemption from childhood trauma, addiction, and brokenness into complete freedom in Christ. Alicia offers biblical truths and practical wisdom on how to invite God into painful places, overcome limiting mindsets, and recognize the spiritual battle behind life’s challenges. This conversation will encourage you that no matter your past or present circumstances, freedom, healing, and transformation are available through Jesus.

About Alicia Johnson:

Alicia is a licensed counselor, pastor, speaker, and author with over 30 years of experience in trauma recovery, marriage mentoring, and Christ-centered counseling. Alongside her husband Steve, she co-leads Longevity Behavioral Health Center, helping individuals and couples find healing and purpose. Alicia is the author of The Healing Timeline and The Power of the Woman, two powerful resources addressing inner restoration and spiritual identity. Her message brings hope to women in every season, especially those seeking healing, identity, and purpose through life’s hardest seasons.

Show Notes:

Bible Verses:

Psalms 139:8 “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”

Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,”

Romans 3:4 “Certainly not! Indeed, let God be [a]true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”

Psalm 78:41 “Yes, again and again they tempted God. And limited the Holy One of Israel.”

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Topics Discussed:

Introduction

Alicia lives in Texas with her husband, and they are pastors at Covenant Church in Carolton, Texas.
Alicia and her husband lead an intercessory prayer team, crisis counseling ministry and a discipleship program called Freedom.
Alicia and her husband have their own business called Longevity Behavioral Health Center.
Alicia grew up in a church going family.
When she was a young child, she experienced sexual abuse. She later became involved with a gang and drugs.
Alicia accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior when she was 23. She also got filled with the Holy Spirit and she never went back to her old life and she never did drugs again.

Freedom from Trauma

Acknowledge the pain and allow yourself to hurt.
Dismissing the pain does take away the pain.
God wants you to come into wholeness.
God is near to the brokenhearted.
Allow others to help you through the process (counselor, etc.)
The more you expose yourself, the freer you get.
God is a gentleman, and He asks if you’ll let Him take you back to those traumatic moments so He can heal you.
Our body responds to trauma.

Spiritual Realm

Our body responds to trauma.
Sometimes sickness in our bodies have spiritual and/or generational roots.
The battle we fight is in the spiritual realm.
The enemy wants us to focus solely on the physical realm, our bodies, but focusing on the spiritual realm will lead to breakthrough.
God desires partnership with us because he longs for that relationship and intimacy.
God blesses us with what is going to bring Him glory, not what’s going to give us glory.

God’s Testing

Everything in our lives is a test.
As the Israelites wandered the desert, God tested them to see what was in their heart.
Sometimes, God is waiting for us to achieve a certain level of maturity before we receive the blessing.
We must not forget God once the blessing comes into our lives.
In the waiting is the time for us to get ourselves rooted in our relationship with the Father.
God asks us if we will worship anyway – in the midst of the hardships.

Limiting God

The Israelites limited God with their thinking.
We can limit God with our mindsets.
So often we look at our circumstances and we think it’s too late or it’s been too long and this limits God!
There will always be obstacles to the things we are believing for, but God tells us to use our faith and God’s Word to get out of ourselves and receive breakthrough.
For every lie we believe, we must get into the Word of God and find the truth to counter that lie.
We must declare the truth of God’s Word over our situations daily!
You can’t change your thinking if you remain in the same place. God is going to stretch you.
If we don’t put ourselves in a place where we can be challenged, our mindsets will remain the same.

Hope

There is absolutely nothing that is impossible for God.
God’s promises are true to you.
Just because it hasn’t come in the specific way we wanted it and expected it to come doesn’t mean God hasn’t answered our prayer.

Powerful Quotes:

“God can turn any situation around. He can rescue anyone.” – Caroline Johnson

“Salvation is justification.” – Alicia

“We are always in the process and progress of our healing.” – Alicia

“Your pain became your purpose.” – Alicia

“Wherever there is a secret, the enemy has power. “-Alicia

“The only reason that God wants to take you back to your past or highlight anything in your past is to bring healing to it.” – Caroline

“If we just focus on the physical realm, our bodies, and we don’t pay attention to the spiritual realm, we are missing a key piece that could lead to our breakthrough.” – Caroline

“We are so aware of the physical realm and yet the battle we fight is in the spiritual realm.” – Caroline

“God is only obligated to bless us with what will bring Him glory, not what brings us glory.” – Alicia

“Every level of elevation requires more depth.” – Alicia

“If you are not dreaming things that are impossible for you, then you are not dreaming big enough.” – Caroline

“You can’t change your thinking if you remain in the same place.” – Alicia

Resources:

www.longevitybhc.com

Longevity Loving for a Lifetime book by Alicia Johnson

Breaking Limited Beliefs book by Alicia Johnson

Momsinthemaking.com

Dadsinthemaking.com

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