Using My Pain to Fulfill My Purpose
Paula’s life was deeply impacted by childhood trauma, even though she didn’t recognize it at the time. Growing up in a challenging environment made learning difficult, and as a teenager, she became what society often labels as a statistic. At just 15, Paula found herself pregnant, self-harming, and involved in a gang, searching for a sense of belonging.
Today, Paula is an international speaker, 2x award-winning author, trauma survivor, and podcaster. She is the founder of Walking Into Freedom with Paula Jauch, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals affected by trauma and addiction.
Paula is a voice for the lost and broken. Her passion and heart’s desire are to teach others to BREAK THE CYCLE of trauma and addiction and find their life purpose. Paula is empowering others with her transformational story of surviving childhood trauma.
She addresses these topics in her book Cross Addicted: Breaking Free from Family Trauma and Addiction. She offers a hopeful path to recovery for those who are hurting and traumatized. Her other projects include Letting Go of Family Trauma and Addiction devotions on the YouVersion Bible App, with currently over 68,000 downloads, and “Exposing Family Secrets,” a chapter in the book She Writes for Him: Stories of Living Hope.
What Paula has learned through her experience is that trauma may be the greatest mission field of the 21st century and the most misunderstood issue of our day.
Paula lives in West Michigan with her husband, Jeff, and their children, continuing her mission to bring hope and healing to trauma survivors.
Paula is bringing awareness and hope to those who have suffered from trauma and addiction. Her goal is to let other trauma survivors know they are not to walk this healing journey alone.
My Story
My story is a little long and complicated, so if you’d like to learn more, you can dive deeper by reading my book Cross Addicted: Breaking Free from Family Trauma and Addiction or by watching the short video below. In both, I share why I’m so passionate about helping others heal from their own pain and struggles.
If you’ve experienced hurt, brokenness, or grew up around addiction, my story might resonate with you. I hope it offers encouragement that healing is possible.
I’d like to leave you with a Bible verse that brought me hope during my darkest season:
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, but to give you a hope and future." - Jeremiah 29:11
This is a picture of me and my son at 15 years old.
This is me visiting my dad in prison as a teenager.
GET TO KNOW PAULA A LITTLE MORE
Negative voices torment us. Our past causes us to feel shame and guilt. We hesitate to tell our story because we really don’t no how to make sense of it all or we are afraid of what people might think.
Does this sound familiar?
This was my story for a long time. Bound by guilt and shame that I didn’t know how to get rid of. I found myself in a vicious cycle of self-destructive behaviors that left me feeling isolated.
I had a story to tell, but I couldn’t put all the pieces together because of my childhood trauma.
I grew up in abuse and neglect, surrounded by addiction from the time I was born. With a father who was incarcerated and a mother absent because of addiction, I wasn’t even aware that my needs weren’t being met. It was just the way things were.
I ended up pregnant at fifteen years old and initiated into a Hispanic gang because I longed to be accepted into a family. School was a struggle; I was placed in special education classes and various behavioral programs until I was kicked out of school and sent to an alternative education program.
As an adult woman these things still plagued me as I tried to get a job and found myself reading at a third grade level. I was addicted to cutting myself to relieve the pain and confusion that was in my body and I was very sick from my eating disorder.
At one point I felt so alone and isolated I tried to take my life. A friend told me about Jesus and this gave me hope that someone might really love me. She told me that God had a purpose and plan for my life. Even then, it took years for me to receive the deep healing I needed.
That day she left me with a scripture that I couldn’t get out of my head and to this day it has changed my heart, Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, but to give you a hope and future.”
As I continued to grow in God’s word, learning and understanding His truth about me, it enabled me to start walking in His way. That is taking many baby steps and scraping my knees. With the help of the Holy Spirit’s leading and my 12 step recovery program, I started to heal from my trauma, and became delivered from a lot of pain, addiction and many of my coping mechanisms. God has taken me on journey of healing which led to my FREEDOM and DELIVERANCE and now I am offering hope to those who are still suffering.
