COMMENCING THE JOURNEY
As the journey to healing progresses, it becomes:
beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for heaviness;
…trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD,
that he might be glorified.
COMMENCING THE JOURNEY
The Dark Silence of Abuse
The initial violation of sexual touching creates terror in the victim and a wall of silence, alone in the darkness - a hell of its own kind.
There may be spoken or implied messages from the violator regarding what will happen if the experience ever is told by the victim. (For instance, parents won’t love you anymore, you will go to hell.)
The abuse isn’t only the isolation behind the wall of silence, it is the ongoing power the violator exercises over the victim. It can be as confining and isolating as the initial physical violation.
Violators continue arranging contact, even if there is no physical touch, in order to insure the silence will be kept.
Trapped in the victim position, there can be more violations as we the victims continue to create unhealthy controlling relationships.
It also is silence imposed by a culture where even healthy sexuality is a forbidden subject.
The silence is strengthened if a victim dares to tell what has been experienced. Common reactions are disbelief; “don’t talk about those things”; “the violator would not do those kinds of things.”
This blame, shame, rejection and feelings of guilt are the heavy burden laid on the victim instead of on the violator.
Job's friends couldn’t understand what Job was experiencing… It caused them to give wrong advice.
