The other day, I was having lunch with a friend. She wanted to know about The Lost Son series I wrote. She asked me what the main message was and I told her that it was so that people with #PTSD can actually see themselves as survivors. When they let that simple fact penetrate the darkness they may be dealing with, they see the way out of it. No one wants to join the PTSD club. Membership come with a very high price. The thing is, no one wants to stay in it. Each one of us are searching for a way out of the misery that comes with it.
I know I did. There are parts of me in all the characters of The Lost Son.
Chris is the main character. He went from being suicidal to becoming a spiritual leader and proving that God and goodness vastly outnumber Satan and evil. He needed help but was ashamed to ask for it. He didn’t feel as if he deserved it. He also didn’t feel as if he deserved to suffer. Throughout the three books, Chris sees the world as a much better place that he thought it was because he sees how the power of hope grows stronger when it is shared.
Ed was a pastor but was fired and became a bartender. He didn’t know it, but when he started to pray for Chris, he set off a series of events to answer the prayers of people around the world. All he wanted to do was help Chris but throughout the books, you’ll see how far that help spread out.
Bill was Chris’s best friend and ex-brother in law. He had PTSD from combat but was helped to heal.
David was Bill’s best friend and he had PTSD from combat, but was helped to heal.
Grace was an Orlando police officer who responded to the Pulse nightclub and had PTSD from her job. She was helped to heal.
Mary Michaels and her brother Alex had PTSD from abusive parents. They were helped to heal.
Benjamin Quinn had PTSD from combat in Vietnam and he was helped to heal.
Drake was a female wrestler who thought she killed an opponent and had PTSD from that match. She was also dealing with her childhood friend committing suicide because she was gay and her parents were hateful people. She thought she could tell them because Drake did and her parents accepted her. After all, they always knew she was. They were just waiting for her to tell them what they already knew.
And then there is Mandy. Mandy had PTSD but was helped to heal. Drake was healed by her, and so was David and Bill and eventually Chris along with many, many more.
Those are the repeat characters and as the books go on, more come to help this group with what the prayers of Ed started.
The thing is, when you spend so much time in darkness and someone shows you the way out, it is impossible to not go back to get others out too. As all of the people in The Lost Son discovered, as they help others heal, they heal even more and the world is a better place because of all of them.
The world is a better place because people around the world have reached out to light the darkness others are living in so they can heal too. It all starts when someone is willing to ask for help because others are willing to give it.
I wrote The Lost Son series because the stigma of PTSD is alive and well but too many survivors are not. It’s time we change the conversation and let them know what is possible when we no longer settle for what is harmful. It is time to raise healing awareness so more can become alive again too!
