When all is said and done, by the end of this week, if all goes according to plan and schedule, I will have had my busiest week to date, for meeting with people. The reasons range from relationship coaching, to offering a listening ear to teens who have suffered sexual assaults, attempted murder, and attempted suicides to meeting with middle-aged individuals working through childhood abuse and violence, to cases of extreme spiritual abuse.
I anticipate I will have heard more stories, more pain, and more secrets exposed in one week, than ever before. As it stands, I have heard things already that shocked me. And I am not easily shocked, particularly in the front of spiritual abuse. So much so that, when one woman who called from southern USA and shared her story, I told her that what has been done to her is reminiscent of KKK.
What ‘Christian’ community sends messages to an ‘outcast’ member, involving dead animals with the heart gutted? Repeatedly. And then spreads the lies that the individual is a witch. It is the most shocking, most extreme thing I have heard, to date, coming from a conservative Christian community. And there is more that I won’t share.
A young boy is suicidal because he has been raped. Violated. Demoralized. A young girl has lost hope, and wishes to die because her uncle used her. A mother is in tears because her son’s violent outbursts leave family and friends, cowering in corners. Her son is but a child.
And all of these things happen behind closed doors, in the Christian community. Is it any small wonder that the enemy of our lives, the predator of our souls, wants to keep silence in the church in the areas of abuse and violence? The power this gives him is second to none. Because he can make God look like pure evil in the minds of victims.
When I read the story of Queen Esther, I think of the church of today and how enslaved we have become to the enemy. I hear the questions Mordecai asks her, and imagine God’s desire to free us from the death trap of all the abuse and violence to which we have turned a blind eye. I have no doubt that God is asking many of us, as Mordecai asked Esther, the hard questions found in her story. Questions that come with a warning, that if we choose silence, we and our children will perish. The generations to come will pay a price.
Esther 4:13(b)-14
“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the (church) you will escape …. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief… will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were (born) for just such a time as this?”
Queen Esther takes the challenge and warning to heart, and responds with:
16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”
Oh the difference we could make in the lives of the children who have lost hope, the middle-aged who struggle through the memories, the elderly who tell their secrets for the first time, and the mothers who fear their sons. If only we said, “I was born to take a stand against evil. And if I perish doing so, I perish. My life is not worth more than freedom for my children and grandchildren.”
As I face the third day of this week, I anticipate great things. I expect God to move. Not because somehow I am ‘all that and more’. I am human. Broken. But I know this, that when I go to the King on behalf of one of these suffering individuals, and He extends His sceptre as a sign of His blessing, their world will change forever. They will know freedom.
The busy-ness does mean I won’t have time to write much. I won’t put out a daily blog this week. But I will embrace the purpose God has set before me, knowing that I was born for such a time as this.
© Trudy Metzger
Return to first post in Sexual Abuse Series
First Post in Spiritual Abuse Series
A Splash of Love.... 
Praying for you as you expose the evil and help walk the hurting to freedom. Will be praying for you this week.
May God’s grace sufficiently cover you during this time.
Yes, Trudy, there is evil out there beyond what most people can imagine. Keep ministering, but be careful. God has given you a ministry to the severely abused and the enemy doesn’t like that.
You most certainly were born for such a time as this. The Lord has placed us in community with one another to lift up those who cannot lift their heads. You are doing this, and more. If each of us would help those in our own backyard, imagine the impact we could have for the Kingdom of God. Imagine those in bondage, whether from abuse or a host of other evils, who could be set free if we just had the courage to stand up and speak up. You are doing that, and making an eternal difference to these precious people you are serving in His Name.
…would rather you continue bringing Light and healing to dark places than feeling any obligation to blog every day. Those who know the vessel of hope that you are will be praying for you, your husband, your family..and those you minister to. Me included.
Will definitely be praying for you, your husband, your family and those you minister to ….me included
God bless you, Trudy. You are such an inspiration. I love your ” Making a splash for the ripples! ” Not sure if that is new, or if I did not notice before- it is perfect! 🙂
I read your posts and appreciate what you wish to do in response to what God has done for you. There are several things I would like to share with you.
1. It isn’t Christian if it is not of God, no matter what the culture. There are no ‘divisions’ in Christ. All are one in Him if the person is truly in Him.
2. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All need Jesus to make them new. This then is the message we have heard of Him and must take to everyone. Jesus came to change our lives, including the unholy responses we portray in reaction to the horrible sins done against us, in whatever form they have come. In your helping, in your hearing, in your zeal to break the silence, please give them the full counsel of God. God bless you as you labor and as you care.
Thank you for that response, Lorene. I completely agree with what you have said. I am a bit uncertain as to how you mean the ‘unholy responses we portray in reaction to the horrible sins done against us’. If that is directed at suicidal tendencies and a child’s violent outbursts, all I can say is that this particular post, as much of my writing, is directed at the ‘Christians’ who cover sin and hide it. When I meet with these individuals I present Jesus, the Redeemer and the Healer of their pain. But I cannot write that message in every post, nor is it the focus. One cannot cover every aspect of every topic in every post. In the story of Esther I don’t see anyone challenging the Jews for what took them to bondage. It is simply a cry for someone, somewhere to rise to God’s call. That is my message here. The other I will take to the victims personally.