You: A Gutsy Former Victim

Sep 5, 2014Heal from the past, Kingdom Uncaged

You usually don’t realize you’re being abused or maligned until you step out from underneath oppression. And when you breathe that fresh, amazing air of freedom, you begin to reconstruct the story you had told yourself, where you were bad, full of sin, and deserved such treatment.

You now remember conversations with better clarity, and you no longer view yourself as the One Who Always Messed Up. Instead, you see patterns of abuse and unfair accusation. You remember how small you felt, how you never measured up. You mourn your PTSD. You beg Jesus to help you forgive those who mistreated. You remember just how broken and needy and flawed you are, and you wonder why you subjected yourself to abuse.

And then the anger comes.

Whenever you see oppression and injustice and unfair ministry structures, something rises up in you. You, with fear and trembling, Say The Thing, knowing you will get in trouble for raising a ruckus.

Initially you are scared. You worry what folks will say. But eventually you dig deep, ask Jesus for guts, and begin to say things for the sake of victims.

Why?

Because victims tend to be voiceless and abusers shout above them. And in this crazy society that grants supreme grace to abusers but often maligns victims, you know SOMEONE has to say something.

So I applaud all who stand up.

Who call oppression what it is. Who listen and dignify victims of abuse. Who act like Jesus in the midst. Who have withstood the test of maligning and shaming and abusive leaders enough to live with battle scars, willing to say ENOUGH.

You go! You venture forth! I am proud of you.

Mind if I pray for you?

Jesus, help us, in whatever context we find ourselves in, to stand up for the voiceless, to call darkness what it is (and expose it to the light). Give us victory voices, hopeful shouts, songs of deliverance, that there is a God who concerns Himself with the oppressed and needy and maligned. Help us represent Your amazing love to a love-starved world. Forgive us for our silence, for giving into the status quo of the powerful continuing to oppress and control. No. We are not powerful, but You are. We are weak, but that keen weakness is the dance floor for Your amazing power. Bring justice, Jesus. And a revolution of honesty, grace and love. Oh how we need it. Amen.

If this post resonated with you, would you do me a favor and give it some tweet-love?

I learned today that we need to be brave in standing against injustice. https://www.marydemuth.com/gutsy/ (Click to tweet)

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