Rape affects the mind, the soul and spirit, even after we’ve been saved. I believe there are so many people in the church who are silently suffering from the pain and shame of rape and abuse.
My friend Alison Lusted was raped on two different occasions. She shared the tragic details of how rape affected her life in episode 6 on the One Voice Makes A Difference podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network.
She told her story of how she was looking for love in all the wrong places. When she was 14 years old, the quarterback of the school football team invited her to a party. She thought several people were coming over to watch movies. But this athlete had another plan for her. He put drugs in her alcoholic drink and violently raped her. Just two weeks later, she was violently raped again by her cousin. These two traumatic events changed her life forever.
Alison explained how the shame of those two events kept her from speaking out. She never told anybody for 10 years.
As she was speaking at a women’s conference in Lima, Peru, she shared her story to these women, who had also been abused. Giving her testimony that night started the journey of healing in her soul, she said.
Alison is now a Christian trauma resolution counselor who helps people all over the world. She says trauma affects the brain and causes brain damage. But as you resolve the trauma with God’s help, the brain begins to heal itself. Most people do not ever seek trauma resolution because they don’t want to face the trauma and unhealed hurts of the past.
The shame of the traumatic event will keep you from pursuing your complete healing. When you open your mouth and tell somebody what happened to you, silence and chains of shame break as you take the secret out of the closet and expose the darkness!
Alison walked us down the valley of her deep, dark secret that led her into a promiscuous lifestyle. Finally, she yielded her life to the Lord but carried the unhealed wound into her marriage and ministry.
She got busy working for God instead of with God. She quickly forgot about her shame and buried it deep into her heart. Before she knew it, pride arose. God exposed areas of need in her life, taking her by the hand and leading her into a wilderness to show her what was in her heart, which was not pretty.
Before Alison knew it, she ended up in a pit of despair with a troubled marriage, losing almost everything. She spoke of how God restored her marriage and healed her heart. He opened the door from the traumatic event at 14 years old and yes, Jesus went there. He healed her by allowing her to lose almost everything.
The one thing Alison had going for her is that she loved Jesus, and she asked Him to help her and to give her a desire for her marriage and heart to be healed.
The Lord showed me there will be an influx of people coming to the church near the end of the pandemic who are wounded, forgotten, abused, hurt, abandoned, fearful and suicidal. What is the church going to do when they come? What are you going to do?
Now is the time for the church to arise and be the hospital for those who are hurting. Will you love the unlovable? Will you give second chances? Will you look beyond what you see and love like Jesus did?
For more on how it’s time to break the silence of the shame and pain and talk about the unspeakable things so that many will be set free, listen to the full episode here. {eoa}
