(This is my first post of this kind in the section I have categorized, “Resources; Alone No More!”.  From time to time  I would like to address areas that we truly need support with on the journey.  I would love you to comment on any specifics you can lend to these areas, as I am not an all-inclusive authority, but rather a willing investor to help one on their journey towards understanding God’s love for them.)

I felt God’s leading this morning to speak to you who are victims of sexual abuse.  This is a very sensitive and delicate topic and I wanted to acknowledge you today and acknowledge your journey and the incredible courage it has taken you to make it!  The often times lonely, isolated, and painful world you live in is foreign to some, but not to all.  You are not alone.  There is hope for all things in Jesus!  If you are reading this, you have survived and I believe you can thrive because of Jesus and His love for you.  Today, you may feel as if your cries for help have landed on deaf ears, you might see yourself in a room full of people yet be the loneliest one,  you might feel unloved and even unlovable.  You might find your mind always occupied with fear for yourself, your children, your sexuality, your present and your future, or you might simply just have this unexplained desperation, depression, and heaviness that will never lift (almost like a bathtub that is ever filling but the drain is ever open).  That may be today, but there is a new hope for tomorrow.  If you find yourself saying yes to any of these items or you find yourself not relating to these, but you have your own list…..you can be confident that God has heard you and has moved Heaven and Earth just for you.  His answer for everything in this life including complete healing and freedom is in Jesus, no matter the circumstance. 

At any given point, it would be easy to abort the healing process when  you don’t know what to do next or where to turn.  I wanted to provide a list of strategies that might further you on your journey.  It would be limiting to say that God can only work in one way or He has to work in this way or that way.  The truth is, God can work in any way He chooses.  He is the leader and He customizes our specific healing journey with Him.  He can choose whatever He wishes and if He desires, He doesn’t even have to use a tool.  He knows best and He knows you best. 

1. Journaling.  This requires no money, no resources, but allows you to start to release your feelings to God in a tangible way.  Write everything you feel, everything you fear, everything you want, everything you need.  Let this cathartic experience begin!
2. Self Studies.  I have included some new links on my home page called Healing for Your Soul, and Healing for your Soul, too!  These are websites that may be a beginning place for you to read about and work through the pain that so surrounds you in a gradual way.  Allender’s book and work book, The Wounded Heart is an in-depth self-study and The Sanford’s have much experience, as well as a prayer and counseling ministry to deal with many deep needs.  Joyce Meyer is also a terrific resource and testimony to God’s healing.  She experienced sexual abuse and has an amazing testimony of God’s healing in her own life.
3. Group Facilitated.  There are many churches all over the country that are facilitating a curriculum called, “Celebrate Recovery”.  This is a small group type format; I know several people who have attended who had been sexually abused and it was what God used to help them to a new place of healing and freedom.  http://www.celebraterecovery.com/
4. One on One.  Private counseling is a great resource, as well.  There are many qualified and capable people out there who have refined their skills for many years and who are qualified to manuever the path of healing with you.  Check with your local church first for recommendations.  Please do not stop looking for someone to help you if you have had a bad experience with a practitioner.  Be sure to find someone who has experience with this type of area and someone you have met, feel safe with, and could receive from.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully you understand that you have choices, resources, and you are not alone.  You have a God who died for you and you are loved and treasured in a way that only He can reveal to you on the journey with Him.  Allow Him the opportunity to love you.  I love Joyce Meyer’s quote, “Do it afraid!”  Ask Him how He wants to speak to your heart.  Ask Him to help you desire to move forward.  Tell Him how much you hurt and how scared you are.  I believe in His power that much and I believe in you!

“Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.”  Gen. 37:24

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him SHALL BE IN HIM a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  John 4:14

There may be no water in the pit you are in today, but the water shall be IN YOU springing up from the WELL that never runs dry!