Dear Reader,
I started writing after a powerful realization about the abuse I had faced for years. I experienced child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, which clouded my thinking. My spirit was restless, and my heart was filled with fear.
I started blogging to be listened to and, more importantly, understood. I desperately wanted someone to care about my suffering. And someone did.
I acknowledged the abuse through blogging and learned valuable lessons from previous afflictions. I also reached out to and accepted genuine healing from the Lord Jesus Christ.
My mind shifted in a different direction, and my writing changed, too.
I continued blogging to help victims of abuse and the oppressed overcome mental oppression and repair emotional scars etched into their hearts. I aim to guide them from the darkness of fear, guilt, and shame into the light of Christ.
I hear a victim’s sorrows.
I understand their anguish.
I feel their pain.
I went to great lengths to create an active blog. I followed leaders in the field and sought their advice to solve reader problems. Then something remarkable happened!
The words, “I called you to follow me,” came to mind. Without hesitation, I understood what the words meant. I was not following the Lord, Jesus Christ, continuously. I decided to take a writing break and sought the Lord in prayer.
I watched a BBC documentary titled “India’s Daughter” on Netflix. The literature is the story of 23-year-old physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh, gang-raped aboard a moving bus in Delhi, India, in 2012.
Six men viciously attacked a male friend, beat, and raped her, damaging her internal organs with an iron rod. Jyoti Singh died a few weeks after the attack.
Source: The Powerful Rape Documentary That Was Banned in India
The Humbling Lessons Learned
What astounded me was the mindset of the people in India. The young boys and men see nothing wrong with raping a young girl or woman. Young girls and women live in shame for having been raped. It is said to be their fault.
It’s a common practice in India for women to experience rape. After an attack, many young girls and women, like Jyoti, are discarded along the roadside as trash and left to die alone.
They don’t have a choice.
They don’t have a voice to speak in their country. It is not allowed.
The documentary opened my eyes to reality.
I’m not a victim because victims can’t make personal choices to live peaceful lives. They live in a constant state of fear, guilt, and shame.
I gained freedom walking by faith in Jesus Christ.
A victim doesn’t have the right to speak out.
It’s not allowed.
They continue to live in silence. And a victim continues portraying the role, even after being set free from the bondage of sin.
The final shift to walking in the light of Christ has arrived.
I must go forward in life and rejoice in the Lord. I’m no longer bound to the title “Abuse Survivor.” I’m Linda, rescued by amazing grace.
I created this blog to help victims of abuse and the oppressed overcome adversity and live abundantly. I hope it will help abuse survivors experience an emotional awakening of their own.
I plan to write more uplifting content to help you heal your mind, grow in spirit, and live abundantly in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for reading. L.M. Carleton