ABUSE?
”When I read about sexual abuse, I knew it was the same for
me. Will I, does anyone, get over the terrible scars of the
abuse?”
ANSWER: No, nobody “gets over” them, but one learns to put them to work in favor of a new intimacy. Those who have suffered abuse learn the contrast between sharing and abusing, and they seem all the stronger for the pain, for they have seen both sides of the issue. They have felt the guilt, self-blame, and anger of sexual abuse and learned the contrast between that and the love, trust, and safety of sex in marriage. Just as someone who never has been really sick may never fully know what it is to be very healthy or at least fully appreciate and value health every day, so it is with sexual abuse. You have seen and felt the pain, so the joy and freedom is all the more valued.
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