Question: Does my body belong to me or is it more of a public space?
Coming through childhood sexual trauma wreaks havoc on our own personal space. We have none.
If children grow up in such an environment, what do you suppose happens in later years when someone attempts something sexual?
These children do not suddenly have an awareness of space, and they do not understand that they have the right and responsiblity to say no.
The lessons these children learned early on are deeply imbedded. They assumed that the space their body inhabits is public property where trespassing is allowed or even encouraged.
On the threshold of hope, diane mandt langberg, phd
On the discussion of fear, do youhave a healthy fear of spending all your time seeking pleasure?
I grew up in our house on Delaware Lane for the first four years of my life. My father had full reign to exercise his demonic desires of pedophilia whenever he wanted. It was an absolute free for all, and I do mean all. My dad, my mother, and their friend, Craig.
Dad ran the house like it was a brothel. Instead of women on the menu, it was children. His own children.
Just becauseyou can, does it mean you should?
I am convinced that nothing but calamity lives in their souls. Peace escapes them as they try to reason their way out of their lack of integrity and pitiful existences.
My full forgiveness they can have. That doesn’t stop the consequences of their choices. Their lives are living disasters.
It created a desire in me to keep the benefits of selfish, pleasure seeking behavior in check in my life. I enjoy life largely but I hold a lot more than just my own desires in my heart.
The question I ask myself is, “am I giving back or just taking in life?”
What comes to your mind when you think of gentleness?
A common misconception is that gentleness is weakness or passivity. True gentleness, however, is just the opposite. It requires great strength and self-control.
Gentleness comes from a state of humility. Therefore, someone who lacks gentleness is often prideful and easily angered, or feels the need for revenge.
In order to be gentle, we must not view ourselves as better than someone else. Rather than asserting superiority, someone who is gentle wants to help others, even when they have been done wrong.
An example of gentleness can be seen in John 8, when the Pharisees bring a woman who was caught in adultery to Jesus. The Pharisees told Jesus that the Law of Moses commanded them to stone such a woman, to which Jesus responds, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).
After everyone left, Jesus did not condemn the woman, and said to her, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11)
Being gentle with myself is new, but I kind of like the places it’s taking me, the kinds of relationships I’m forming, and what becomes possible for me in my life and work because of it.
Many of us are familiar with Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It’s a great scripture. This Scripture brings comfort, direction, and hope to Christians every day.
While God can turn ugly situations around and use them for good and for His purposes, that does not mean he simply excuses the bad behavior and sinful ways of abusers. They are still responsible for their misdeeds. God will hold them accountable.
This is the ultimate irony, an emphatic display of God’s absolute rule!
“There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself, and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.”
Anxiety is a horrifyingly destructive emotion that can run your life. We see it all over – on social media, in movies, and in the lives of the people we know.
And I get it, I’ve been there: I’ve suffered extreme panic attacks, passed out, lost control of my hands that clenched so hard I could not physically unfold them. I’ve been pursed by anxiety all of my life. But I’ve learned how to coexist with it. It doesn’t control my life like it once did.
But one concept that we rarely consider is the practical benefits of anxiety. Because all too often, we characterize it by the negative effect it has on our lives, instead of taking a moment to think about how anxiety may be beneficial.
We also tend not to consider how to live alongside anxiety, how to make friends with it and how reducing fear around it’s existence can actually lessen its hold on our lives.
You can either let anxiety consume your thoughts & plunge your mental health into a bottomless abyss of pain. Alternatively, you can use it as an opportunity to identify your fears and hurts and pains & overcome them, and live a life that you once considered to be impossible.
The choice is always yours.
Will you still feel anxious? Most likely. But by accepting, reframing, and acting on your anxiety, it can feel more like a helpful friend and less like a disruptive rival
Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope is a feeling of trust.
What than is disappointment? It is sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.
So, disappointment is the failed expectations of hope. Hope is deferred when we lose trust.
Trust is the theme that always needs a repair in me it seems.
Gentle Father, I pray today that you would continue to heal that broken area in me. I do trust in you and need your unfailing love to surround me today. Thank you. Amen.
However you’re feeling…whether you feel peaceful about your path right now, around your day-to-day, or not, please hear me when i remind you, that you are not broken. you are worthy of empathy & love.
Remember:
The antidote to shame is disclosure.
That’s why I love this community of sharing the struggles…giving voice to questions and worries and fears and agonies. Also the victories & triumphs.
Sharing the stuff that drags us down and makes us question ourselves – the fear, the brokenness, the exhausting quests for peace.
A new interview with Juanita who joined me from Wales UK to discuss the abuse she received from the Head Master of her childhood school that carried on until she was 13. She contiues her brave story with more sexual abuse in her life and the journey she is now on to regain, heal, and restore.
