Juni Felix - You Are Worth the Work: Moving Forward from Trauma to Faith

Juni Felix has created a life-changing book by sharing practical guidance for emotional healing. With this groundbreaking work, readers can take tiny steps to open the door to personal transformation. If you need more hope in your life (and who doesnt?), I urge you to let Junis book be your guide.

B. J. FOGG, P H D, behavior scientist and director of Stanford Universitys Behavior Design Lab

I love the Tiny Habits method and use it in our work every day. This is a powerful book that can change your life quickly and permanently. Juni Felix is a wonderful guide to help you move toward an abundant life.

DANIEL G. AMEN, MD, founder of Amen Clinics and author of Your Brain Is Always Listening

When you meet Juni, she just loves on you with joy and honesty. Then you read this book and you understand where it comes from. Its from her life to help you in your life. Its real, and its through the lens of Gods Word. Good combo.

BEN CALHOUN, friend and lead singer of Citizen Way

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

For more information, visit NavPress.com.

You Are Worth the Work: Moving Forward from Trauma to Faith

Copyright 2021 by Juni Felix. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers

NavPress and the NavPress logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. Tyndale is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Ministries. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

David Zimmerman, Acquisitions Editor; Heather Maryse Campbell, Copy Editor; Sarah K. Johnson, Proofreader; Olivia Eldredge, Operations Manager; Ron C. Kaufmann, Designer

Cover photograph of paper butterfly copyright matju78/Depositphotos. All rights reserved.

Cover illustration of circuit board copyright tom19275/Depositphotos. All rights reserved.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked CEB are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-855-277-9400.

ISBN 978-1-64158-264-3

ISBN 978-1-64158-266-7 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-64158-267-4 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-64158-265-0 (Apple)

Build: 2021-07-27 15:37:56 EPUB 3.0

Dedicated with love to all my fellow mutants, misfits, and ragamuffins.

T HE HEARTACHE you woke up with this morning, that pain in your soul that makes even the task of receiving hope for the new day exhausting that heartache is not who you are. The abuses, losses, and betrayals youve experienced do not have to continue to cast a dark shadow over your life. Your journey is not over, and you are never alone. Your situation is not your destiny, and sorrow isnt your permanent address.

Contrary to what many have taught and believed for too long, trauma recovery has nothing to do with praying all the right prayers and doing all the right things. Complex trauma affects every part of your body, mind, soul, and spirit.

This is why for most of us, praying a prayer, walking an aisle, or even making a heartfelt profession of faith is simply not enough. Soul-care is essential, and though God can bring order to any chaos and healing to every broken place, you and I must be wise, determined, focused, and willing to partner with Him every day if we want to move forward.

Recovery has very little to do with the amount of faith you have; it has everything to do with your acceptance of and commitment to a lifelong healing journey.

Im so sorry for what youve been through. It wasnt fair. It wasnt right, and you didnt deserve it. You will never forget what it feels like to suffer so much but you can be well. You can find peace and everyday rest for your soul.

Your recovery from deeply personal trauma is possible, and it unravels in the same way it was created: one decision after the next, accumulating into your present reality.

If you feel stuck in your sadness and sorrow, after nearly a lifetime of experience, I know its an extremely hard way to live.

Perhaps (like me) youre a trauma survivor who is proactive and committed to fighting hard for wellness. You take your mental health seriously, reading articles, attending workshops and conferences. You set well-thought-out goals and work hard to make progress and to heal from the abusive scenarios that left you wounded.

Yet still you struggle to manage your symptoms and responses to the daily triggers that send you spiraling into discouragement, self-condemnation, and depression.

I want you to know that the cycle of trying, failing, and blaming yourself can end today, because human behavior is not random or unpredictable its systematic. Once you understand how human behavior actually works, you can design systems that will keep you moving forward for good.

The key to breakthrough is found when we learn how to scale down our behaviors and convert to a mindset and lifestyle of continual TinyHabits that move us toward good.

We were lovingly designed to grow and move forward through small, one-at-a-time baby steps. This is why we start life as tiny, helpless babies: Love from God is experienced incrementally and expressed as we grow.

Our culturally conditioned mindset of go big or go home has caused us to continually feel bad about ourselves for not achieving these big goals.

Behavior Design proves that long-term, sustained change for good is accomplished only by feeling good, not bad. We dont change for good when we feel condemned or ashamed.