That’s when she told my mom about the abuse she had suffered at the hands of my dad as a young girl. That conversation led my mom to talk to my other two sisters, who both told a similar story. Then they asked me…. had dad every approached me sexually? Of course not! (I had the perfect childhood. Remember?)…. Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 29)

I married “T” on my 21st birthday just two weeks after my divorce finalized. Red flags started going off almost immediately, but I ignored them. I had to. Acknowledging that I might have made a mistake would have meant that I’d be alone again, that I’d be a failure again. And my battered psyche just couldn’t handle that. I needed him, because I needed to be needed and he made me feel needed…. Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 28)

In this next part of my story …. well, there is a lot about it that I am ashamed of. Ashamed of my behavior, ashamed of what I let happen to me, and of what I let happen to those that I love. And I wonder what will be the consequence…. Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 27)

Marriage was supposed to fix everything, it was supposed to mean forever and always. And yet there I was, 20 years old and so completely unloved and unwanted that my husband watched me move out without doing a single thing to stop me. It was absolutely devastating and was the perfect set-up for … Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 26)

It took me a long time to get to this place of understanding, but I now know that the people who inflicted the most pain on my young soul were each dealing with their own family histories and experiences as best they could. The truth is, …. Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 25)

But sin is not the only thing at work on this earth – the love of the Father is at work. His Light seeks out and finds points of entrance through the darkness of fear, shame, loss and evil. Streaks of light break through the barrier of trunks, branches, leaves and overgrowth. The illumination of His love provides a roadmap for a way out. Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 23)

It seemed like nonsense to me…and then it happened. Like the movies you see of a spacecraft going through hyperspace, where all the stars swish by so fast it looks like you’re traveling through a tunnel, all the sudden I ‘swooshed’ back approx. 25 years. And what I encountered shook me so deeply … Continue reading 2018: A Year For Hope (Week 22)