Content warning: this reflection mentions domestic violence.
People often ask how to help when they suspect that a loved one is in an abusive situation. My advice? Offer them a non-judgmental place to talk. Find what resources are available in your area. Help your loved one to access those resources. Help them think through an escape plan. Most important, pray with and for them.
My friends never asked, “Why do you stay?” They never judged me before or after I left. They prayed for and with me.
As I look back on that time in my life, I often say that the only way I survived those years was through the grace of God, my family, and my domestic violence advocates.
Domestic violence does not discriminate. If affects people in all walks of life, every race or ethnicity, every social and economic level, and every gender. It is my hope that after hearing my story, someone else will become a survivor.
This message is excerpted from “The journey from victim to survivor” by Rhonda Campbell Clay in the October 2015 Gather magazine.
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