Margaret Shepard once said, ‘’Sometimes, your only available transportation is a leap of faith.’’
I couldn’t agree more!
In the Bible, there are several personalities cited as examples of demonstrating their faith. Abraham took a leap of faith when he sacrificed his son at the altar. Moses took a leap of faith when he stretched his rod over the Red Sea not knowing if he could part it. David took a leap of faith to fight Goliath the Philistine not knowing if he would win.
You will not be the first to take a leap of faith neither would you be the last. And if you do not take this leap of faith, you may never get to your destined place of glory.
Leaving an abuser is not the easiest thing to do. It is in fact the most difficult decision of all.
Your family will trivialize the issue because they don’t want you to leave the marriage.
Your friends will try to talk you out of it but may not have the resources to help you start life all over.
Everyone believes the abuse didn’t happen.
So you have to look out for you.
There were days when I had to use makeup to cover the bruises on my face.
There were days where I wore long-sleeved shirts to hide the marks and scars on my arms.
There were days where I would cry to God and ask Him why I was going through what I was going through.
There were days where I would ask God why He couldn’t see all that was happening and put an end to it.
But God has the final say.
He chooses His vessels. He has His plan.
And even though I was short-sighted in all of this, it makes so much sense now.
Abuse does not make sense.
Being with an abuser for so many years, does not make sense either.
But tell me, if everything makes sense in the beginning, would we allow ourselves to go through it?
If God told us His end plan, would we align with His will?
God cannot make sense to us humans, if He did, He will cease being God to us!
Heck, we wouldn’t even respect Him, because He’s like one of us.
But the I AM is the I AM.
His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts, our thoughts.
When you read Acts chapter 9 versus 1 to 20, you will realize that it started with Saul persecuting the church and seeking letters from the high priest to take to the Synagogues of Damascus to persecute more Christians. It ended with Saul having converted through his light encounter with God, to now, preaching the same Gospel he persecuted.
I was once a Saul. Like Saul, I was persecuting my parents and everyone who tried to talk me out of my relationship with the abuser. One day, I had a road to Damascus encounter where God said, ‘why are you persecuting me? Don’t you know that the voice of the people is the voice of God? I spoke through your parents and the people around you to warn you of impending danger.’
Then I asked the Lord, ‘what do I do?’
He said to me, ‘write a book telling people about your experience. Tell them to obey and listen to their parents. Tell them to treasure their friendships and important relationships. I have chosen you as a vessel of Mine to bear my name before the world, you will suffer for this cause but I will increase you all the more and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.’
Just then the scales fell off. God began to open my eyes and teach me about abusers, and their numerous tactics. It takes the grace of God for the scales to fall off.
I pray that God will take the scales from your eyes, so you will begin to see what He’s been wanting you to see. I pray that God will lead you to His place of glory. I pray that God will establish you on the four corners of this earth. I pray that God will lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
God wants me to tell you, ‘’It is not about how you started but how you end. It is not about the abuse, but how you can transform the abuse into a testimony.’’
Above all else, guard your heart as in Proverbs 4:23, for out of it, flows the issues of life.
