Faith Builders

I Survived Sexual Abuse at the Hands of My Father

Hi. My name is Laura.

I have gone through an immense amount of healing, and would like to share it.

From the time I was 4 to the time I was 12, I was sexually abused by my father. His abuse was violent and varied, ranging from rape to bleach poisoning to gagging, choking, and tying me to the bed while abusing me.

When I went into counseling at age 14 for emotionally induced seizures, I could no longer stand it and had to tell someone. At that point, I was on the verge of a multiple personality disorder. I thought I belonged to the darkness and always would.

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Living a Double Standard

My feelings of guilt and shame towards a same-sex attraction began at an early age. I experienced frequent sexual abuse from an older male friend during most of my teen years, and hustling for money soon followed.

Years later, I was baptized in a Mennonite Brethren church as a public declaration that I would follow Christ. My secret desire was that maybe now my attraction and sexual fantasies towards men would disappear. They didn’t, and the fantasies soon turned into years of acting out behaviours.

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Manifest the Life of Christ in Our Daily Living

True religion will manifest itself in every phase of life. We sit down in the quiet and read our Bible–and get our lesson. We know it now–but we have not as yet got it into our life–which is the thing we must really do.

Knowing that we should love our enemies, is not the ultimate thing–actually loving our enemies is.

Knowing that we should be patient, is not all–we are to practice the lesson of patience, until it has become a habit in our life.

Many know the cardinal duties of Christian life–who yet have not learned to live them. It is living them, however, that is true religion.

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Peace in His Arms

As soon as I get into bed at night, I literally feel the arms of Jesus go around me and hold me close to His loving heart. When His arms of unconditional love go around me, I feel a peace, a joy, a happiness and a security that the world can’t give and the world can’t take away. He holds me all night long and when I get up in the morning, He is my constant companion. He never leaves me, not even for a minute and when I go to the store, He goes with me. There is no one like Jesus! No one loves us like Jesus loves us! He is a friend beyond compare and I love Him with all of my heart. My heart’s desire and the only reason I am living is to make Him happy.

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We Have a Father

As a boy of about 6 years old, I can remember attending a funeral of a family friend. The service was held in an old Gothic style mausoleum nestled somewhere in the City of Los Angeles. After the mass, the immediate family and a few close friends were ushered in an elevator along with the casket for entombment, I found comfort and security by clinging onto my dad’s leg as I stood there eye level with death. Recently I was faced with one of the greatest struggles of my life as I came to terms with the passing of my father. For some odd reason I never believed that he would one day succumb to the destiny that awaits all mortal beings. For as Holy Scripture reads “… inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Yes, I was

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According to Your Faith

And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

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Fulfilling God’s Purpose Rather than Our Own

“Prepare to meet your God…” Amos 4:12

The recent movie “Bucket List” was a smash hit at theaters, and not surprisingly so. The storyline was about two men who discover they have little time left to live, so they draw up lists of what they want to accomplish before they “kick the bucket.” The theme is appealing because nearly everyone has such a bucket list, though most despair of ever checking off anything on the list, let alone covering the entire thing.

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Distorted Images of God

Many people don’t even think of God. Many don’t know there IS a God. But what about you? If you are reading this then you obviously are aware there is a God. You are aware because you are reading this article. If you are just becoming aware, then this article will maybe help clear up some misconceptions people have about God.

I remember being a little girl and thinking that God was this big person, bigger than the mountains who would punish us if we did something wrong. I could imagine this country-sized hand coming down out of Heaven to hit me when I did something wrong. My image of God was distorted. Fortunately for me, God cleared up my misconceptions.

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Think Jesus

I’m sure you’ve heard many times that we are to think positive thoughts and indeed we do need to think positive instead of thinking negative. However, just thinking positive thoughts will never change us or our circumstances. We don’t have the power to change anything. It takes the power of our risen Saviour living in us to change us and our circumstances. Instead of thinking positive we should “Think Jesus.” He is the only one who can change a life and melt a hardened heart into a soft heart.

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