Hope for Healing
Pity or Compassion
Pity or feeling sorry for someone who is suffering tends to focus on the horror. It can blind us to the person behind the barrier. It can look like you don’t believe they can ever overcome the trauma. Compassion focuses on the victim’s capabilities rather than brokenness. Helping a victim isn’t about reaching down, but…
How Abuse Skews Our Identity
Abuse skews our identity, but doesn’t change it. We can choose to stay in the muck of the pain and anguish or we can choose to own our lives and discover nurture our true identities.
Effects of Abuse: the Silent Killer
Abuse-a silent killer. Even if a victim survives physically, the effects of abuse can slowly kill the will to live. But healing is possible.
Behind the Fortress
Opening the gate allows the healing of my heart. It allows the kindnesses, compassion, and even good intentions of others to permeate my walls of protection. It strengthens my foundation. Life behind the fortress is no longer dark and lonely.
Available Now!
Miracles in the Dark: How a Childhood Cult and Abuse Survivor Reclaimed the Light is a compelling and raw story of overcoming the trauma of childhood abuse and finding hope and healing
Giving It Forward–An invitation
In loving memory of my sister, Jerri Lynn, who fought many life battles, I am starting a Giving It Forward campaign. This is not a fundraiser, it’s more of an awareness-raiser. It is about connection, reaching out, and believing. It’s about being real and being open-hearted. There are as many ways of giving it forward…
With God Nothing is Impossible
While I may always experience lingering effects of the abuse, the abuse and the disorders they caused no longer define me. They are only a small part of the whole. Choosing to believe “that a Power greater than ourselves could restore [me] to sanity” has made all the difference.
The Gift: Peace
Peace on Earth has more to do with the heart than with the circumstances of our lives. Sometimes the peace comes after the trial.
The Gift: Pausing at the Parting of the Waters
Sometimes, the waves of pain and grief try to pull us under. Pausing at the parting of the waters can give us the strength to move forward.
Is it Gratitude or Blinders?
Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, but sometimes accentuating the positive can be a way of masking truths we don’t want to look at. So, the question I’m asking myself is, “Is it gratitude or blinders?” Blinders Blinders are leather pieces that are placed on either side of a horse’s head next to its eyes….
Exploring the Mystery of Faith
Recently, a friend asked, “What is this mystery of faith you all talk about?” We are both part of a group of friends that are working our way through healing from PTSD. Some members of the group talk about how prayer and believing in Jesus Christ help them on their journey. This man was horribly…
Moving from “Why?” to “What now?”
Growing up, I was the shaky sort—not sure of myself and often feeling the outcast. A dark cloud hung in my heart, keeping my true self somewhere beyond the shadows of fear and anxiety. I searched for a light strong enough to counter the dark. Relief came in the Light I found in Jesus Christ….
Facing the Dragon
“Wow! Look at that sunset” our friend belted with his usual over-the-top enthusiasm. I sat quietly looking out over the mountains. The flaming colors of the clouds billowed in defiance of the setting sun, but the scene didn’t permeate anything deeper in me than an intellectual acknowledgment of its beauty. It’s not that I never…
Feast on the Light
Encouragement to feast on the light from my friend, Cindy: “Don’t view all that you experience in life through lenses darkened by the scars of abuse (or addictions). There is so much in life that is beautiful. Open the windows of your heart and let the love of the Savior in.” (Richard G. Scott) I…
When the “Why” Can’t Be Answered
A few years ago, a friend shared the heartbreaking story of 3 year-old Sarah facing the dreaded enemy—cancer. My friend talked about the courage of Sarah and the steadfast love and attention of Sarah’s mother, Adriana as they struggled to find peace. As the month’s passed, the grief of the little girl’s suffering weighed heavily…
In My Arms
The joys of being a mom can be dimmed by heartache and the wounding loss of a baby before he is ever held in your arms. My daughter-in-law, Krista, shared this story with me— My husband and I were overjoyed when we discovered we were pregnant with our third child. After almost a year long…
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