Today’s pandemic has shaken our world. The economic world is shaken, with many people not being able to go to work. Our social lives are shaken, having to stay apart. With all the fear and uncertainty, many people’s emotional well-being is shaken. In life, we all have these times where things shake us to our core—an unexpected illness, a lost loved one, a job layoff. All the stability we were used to is no longer there. It’s easy to get discouraged and wonder why it happened and whether things will ever return to normal. But here’s the key: The shaking is not there to stop you; the shaking is there to shift you.

A Short, Yet Profound, Testimony From One Of My Workshop Participants. You have brought truth into my life in ways that you will not realize. I greatly appreciate your ministry. You brought truth to my life in a time when I truly needed the support that your ministry brought. I was abused, verbally and physically by my Mother. If you had not brought out the fact that verbal abuse is actual abuse, I would not have chosen the treatment that I now seek.

The people of Israel wandered around in the desert for 40 years, making what should have only been an 11-day journey much, much longer. Why? Was it because of their enemies, their circumstances, or the trials along the way? Or was it something entirely different that prevented them from arriving at their destination? 

Watching one person who you love and who is supposed to love you violently abuse someone else you love, you depend on and who loves you is terrifying. It shatters a child’s belief that they can be safe in their home or in their skin. A parent who is being abused is very stressed, and is unlikely to be able to function as well as a parent as they otherwise would.

I have become increasingly concerned as I have lamented the failure of ministries to protect their members from the sexual predators and perpetrators of domestic violence in our society that I may appear to be disillusioned with Christ’s church. Although I have grieved over the church’s failures, I have fought to keep from getting cynical over them by keeping focused upon Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

We’re several weeks into the coronavirus outbreak, and by now you’ve memorized a dozen methods for keeping your body’s immune system strong. But what are you doing to keep your marriage strong?

At the 2019 ERLC Caring Well Conference, I shared 10 requests from my perspective of an SBC sexual abuse survivor. I’ve included my requests, expanded with commentary in order to help guide your thinking as you care well for trauma survivors.

After years of silence, she found the courage to testify against Dr. Larry Nassar, the doctor who had been sexually abusing young women for years. I opened my laptop to check my grocery list. My two older children were running around downstairs. My baby daughter was with me. My husband, Jacob, a carpenter, and a Southern Seminary graduate student, had already left. My gaze went to a Facebook trending story: “A Blind Eye to Sex Abuse: How USA Gymnastics Failed to Report Cases,” from The Indianapolis Star.

Processing the trauma from familial child sexual abuse is a very daunting process. Childhood sexual abuse crosses all boundaries, robs their victims of their basic human rights, and disrupts the victim’s normal growth and development. Young victims take on the responsibility of their abuse and experience guilt, shame, and self-blame as a result of it. These feelings are carried with them long after the abuse has ended.