Hello everyone!
Today's blog is for abuse survivors. It doesn't matter what kind of abuse and it doesn't matter at whose hands you have suffered. I call you survivors because that is exactly what you are! Yes you were victimized and taken advantage of my somone who claimed to love you (and that is all is was, a claim and a lie). Yes, you have been financially, emotionally and physically strained and getting away from your abuser may have put your life in danger but you did survive. If you have children, they survived too. You survived for them and they survived for you! Now is the time for you and your children to heal. Now is the time for you to regroup and rebuild your life, even if if has to be from the ground up. Now is the time for you to see how resilient your children really are in situations like these. I may have been victimized but I survived and I am thriving, and you can too!
I am thriving financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. God is no respecter of persons. He can do the same thing for you too! We beat our abuser at their own game when we not only survive but when we thrive. We become everything they told us we couldn't be. We prove that they are liars. We prove to our children that they can be strong and courageous in the face of evil! We build our own lives and we remove evil from the center of our lives. We become new men and women of strength, determination and character - and we teach these things to our children.
If are a victim of any kind of abuse, I am here to tell you that you don't have to stay a victim. You don't have to let evil win! There is a new and better life! Take that first step to remove yourself from that situation. You are stronger than you think! You are smarter than you think! You are better than you think! You are a survivor and a thriver! Your abuser is a coward of the worst kind! He or she will not know what to do with you when you get fed up, stand up and move up into a new life without them. Trust me, you will leave them dumbfounded. I want you to prepare yourself for a storm when you make this decision for you and your children. I also want you to know God will whether the storm with you and work on your behalf. He has always been there and what that person did to you, He saw all of it! He knows exactly how you are feeling and what you have been through. His heart is with and for the victimized and the hurt. He can redeem and restore anyone who allows Him too! He only has good plans for you! There is no way to go but up from here! You abuser is and was a liar. He or she has stolen enough of your life and that of your children's lives - leave this evil person and live free! Remember, you can not help them - only God can!
I will shout this from the rooftops! You have the God-given right to not only live and survive but to thrive in new life! Don't ever forget that! I will leave you with a verse that has greatly encouraged me since leaving my abusive marriage over 3 years ago:
Jeremiah 29:11 AMP; For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Living free,
Elizabeth
**For more about my journey see my book, The Road Less Traveled: A Story of Love, Pain, Hope and Everything In-Between by Elizabeth Billingsley. Availability is listed at the top of my author website.