If you work with domestic abuse survivors, I want to encourage you to add this message to the list of things you tell these hurting women.  And if you are a domestic abuse survivor, let me speak directly into your soul.

Because you are more than likely exhausted.
You have been broken down.
You are wounded.
You may be confused.
You might be in despair.
You may feel option-less.
You more than likely feel hopeless, that there’s no way you’ll ever fully overcome your pain.

At times, you cannot see past the day in front of you.  You cannot see past your own pain.

So if you want to heal and move forward, I believe your highest work will be to begin painting a picture of your future that helps you see that your pain has not been for nothing. Time going by and healing seeping in and asking for God’s help and you choosing to forgive…..all of that hard work will assure that every ounce of your pain and every bit of your hard life circumstances can be transformed and used to help someone else.

Let me say that again: Your pain has not been for nothing.  And all of your pain can be used to help someone else.

Paul says in II Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

God promises to comfort us in our trouble but then he puts a purpose to our pain by telling us that he comforts us SO THAT we can comfort others.

You may not want to hear this at first because of the self-focus you have wrapped around yourself, and I completely get that. And yet, beginning to see that your life is not over, that you have something to offer, that there are other women just like you who need you to heal and become stronger so that you can take the comfort and healing you’ve received and pour it into someone else will help lift your eyes up and off your current circumstances and give you hope for your future.

I want you safe, yes, absolutely.
But I want so much more for you than just physical and emotional safety.
I want you to heal.
I want you to be set free.
I want you to become who God created you to be.
I want you to forgive.
I want you to thrive.
I want you to have hope. I want you to have hope. I want you to have hope.
Because there is Hope.

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. –Romans 5:5

If my work has encouraged you and you’d like to partner with me as I reach out to help hurting women, click here for more information.