Beauty From Pain (Healing From Abuse)

Tammy's Reflection"

Sometimes when we start to face the abuse in our past, it seems like all we see are losses and the devastation that our abusive past has caused in our soul. It is like looking at the aftermath of the twin towers after 9/11. Do you remember when 9/11 happened? It seems that the whole country was wounded and grieving. It felt like our whole country was devastated and it would never be the same. What did we need at that time? Hope. I'll never forget President Bush standing with a megaphone in the middle of all that devastation and giving us hope.

Facing sexual or physical abuse in our life for the first time is like looking at at the devastation after 9/11. Someone betrayed and devastated our ablity to trust and it can be overwhelming to face. I want to encourage anyone that has been wounded by physical or sexual abuse to seek help.

I have personally witnessed God rebuild their souls and do a miracle. Like this post says their is hope. Remember after 9/11 we thought we'd never feel safe again. Now, it is a distant memory. Our country has hope again. If you give all the broken pieces of your soul to God He can rebuild. He can bring beauty out of all your pain.

I am not promising it will be easy or a short process, but He is the God who heals. I am encouraging you to step out of the darkness and take one step. It wasn't your fault. One step could be just posting here anonymously or calling a hotline and just breaking the silence.



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NACR Daily Meditation for Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are nosheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18


Sometimes it feels like life is the experience of loss upon loss. There are times when losses are all we can see. We are like this farmer taking inventory. The figs, the grapes, the olive crop, and the wheat are all lost. The sheep and the cattle are gone. There is nothing left, and nothing to hope for. In times like this we are in danger of believing that fear and sorrow are our only companions.

If the inventory of our lives stopped here, then all would be lost. We would be without hope. But there is more to the story of our lives than our inventory of losses can ever show. We can return again to the hope that God is bigger than all of the losses of life. No matter how long our inventory of losses may be, we can find in God a peace and hope that reshapes our struggle. The losses do not magically disappear. But, when we turn our hearts toward God, we know again that there is more to our life story than losses. We do not want the bottom line of our life's story to read "this was a person who experienced many losses". As each day we turn our hearts again to God, we are writing a life story that will end with "though the losses were painful, this was a person who found deep joy in God's love."


Lord, my losses are many.
Help me not to pretend about them.
Help me to grieve, Lord.
But help me as well to turn my heart toward you.
Even as I grieve,
help me to find
joy in you.
Amen.


Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan