Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Where was God?



Where was God?

That is a question I get often in leading women through a journey of healing who were once victims of a sexual assault. Sexual assault, whether through rape, sexual abuse or incest is a devastating event that happens to far too many men and women, boys and girls. Victims of sexual assault also experience effects such as physical, psychological, and emotional scars and the abuse often manifests itself in responses such as denial, guilt, shame, distorted self-image, anger, and PTSD. The feelings that victims have I could never adequately put into words.

Praxis Community Church offers a support group for women who have been victimized. The group is centered around Jesus, His grace, and His healing hand. The reality is, no one on this side of the grave will ever truly understand what you went through. Sexual assualt harms people in different ways to different degrees. What I hope you find in our support group is a group of women who understand that you are hurting, who respect where you are in the process and never push you to go faster than your heart can bare. Sometimes, women come and they just listen. We never know their story. Some women come and just cry. Some come and scream and yell. People’s reactions are all over the board, and we welcome that and we honor where you are at. We don’t expect you to go through the class and come out as if nothing ever happened to you. Our hope and prayer is that you will begin the process to allow God to remove the guilt and shame and the effects that it has created in your life. I pray that women who enter the group with us learn that God is familiar with the pain you’ve been going through and more importantly that He mourns with you and that he is angrier than you are for the sins committed against you. So where was God? Come join us and let’s answer that question.

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