What gives you strength after experiencing sexual abuse?

[HoneyBee]

I'm someone who has experienced sexual abuse in my early childhood, and while I'm doing a lot better these days at the age of 27, I still sometimes feel very low whenever I think about the damage that being abused did to me. So I thought I would open this thread in order to ask what might help others when they feel bad about what happened to them too. Maybe we can help each other out by sharing ideas.

For me, what gives me strength is keeping my eyes on Jesus. Sometimes reading the Bible helps me to remember God's promises to us and helps me to remember how much God loves and treasures us. Tending to my spirituality by going to church weekly can really help me a lot as well. Finally, my church has a 12-step program that I attend as well, so going there is good for me too.

Other than that, though, I've found other things to be really helpful in my walk through the healing process. These other things that help me include:

• Journaling my thoughts openly and honestly, either on paper or on online message boards
• Creating something that brings me joy, such as a drawing, a painting, a craft, or a poem
• Looking at religious artwork on Pinterest
• Listening to uplifting music that inspires hope
• Volunteering with an organization that I'm passionate about, or donating to it
• Reaching out to friends or family when I'm hurting

How about you? What sorts of things help to give you strength?

 

[har_habayit]

Hi. I share your hurt. Some things that help me include exercising my gifts, much like you wrote. Engaging in something that really makes me happy is crucial to me getting "beyond" not only past traumatic experiences and memories, but the wandering mind that can lead me to ruminate on things from the past that are only going to hurt me.

The battlefield is in the mind, as Joyce Meyer and others have stated. We are to build our spiritual selves and interact with God in that way so that we don't get pulled down by our minds, which is part of the flesh which is fallen. When we are damaged, either by our own actions or by the evil perpetrated by others, we suffer damage that affects our whole soul, mind, will, heart, and emotions. However, our spirits, which are born again through the working of God when we accept His rulership in our lives, are relatively untainted by these experiences. Of course, I could be wrong.

I find it helpful to pray for my perpetrator. This goes for any abuse. Praying for the person and praying God's best for them goes a long way towards freeing me from the bitterness involved. That doesn't necessarily mean that you pray for the person to "have a great day". In my case, I have prayed for the person who impacted me along the lines you wrote about that God would give them a chance to repent and to make right with every single one of their victims before death. For me, this is the highest good the evildoer could have. The worst thing a perpetrator of abuse can face is God face to face at a time when no repentance is possible. So for me, praying that over my abuser is a way of "loving" them, so to speak.

 

[Grogu]

My faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.