C
centurionguard
Guest
My apologies if this is the wrong Forum to speak about the following.
Recently I’ve met this woman friend (“nothing remotely intimate”) who has suffered the heavily laden stigma of Incest. In her childhood her parents never instilled faith in God, nor was she told any importance of having to go to church. She has never revealed to me what denomination if any she belonged to. Being a Victim myself who suffered Gang-Rape and Torture at Gunpoint, I do have a most empathetic and compassionate understanding of how Rape Traumatic Syndrome and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can effect human psychology.
Stigma and Pain can force victims of rape and incest to put up masks and walls of vulnerability because pain can be so unspeakably poignant. She is seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist to help her deal with her stigma.
However; she doesn’t believe how any God could permit such a profound event as incest-rape to happen to her. It’s so very sad and heart-wrenching.
Perhaps I was the lucky one to have a loving family where my respected beloved parents instilled my Catholic Faith inside me by going to Mass every Sunday and teaching us about God. And later on in life God took over and began writing His gentle loving concerns and this ongoing Faith and Spirituality on the inside walls of my heart. I owe most of my healing from God, not secular Psychiatry or Psychology although I still see both when I have painful setbacks trying to pick up many of the lost shattered pieces of pain and the complete missing sexual identity in my life despite my superficial exterior of the flesh being a man, mostly Asexual with former remnants of my Heterosexuality. Adopting a “strict” Asexual lifestyle is what the stigma of rape has done to me. There was a time in my life that I felt totally abandoned by God. I even had an anger against Him. But thankfully it was God who helped me find the humility and sorrow to relent my feelings and find healing little by little by having my cherished Faith in God to fall back on.
My apologies for the long writ. My heart though goes out to this new woman friend who has suffered great pain from a former life of incest. I realize that Faith in God cannot be forced on anyone. This woman needs a tremendous amount of healing and prayers. Not really sure how I can witness my Faith in God to her anymore other than being supportive in a genuine empathetic and compassionate manner without being judgmental.
It is so sad that Rape, Incest and Spousal Abuse have this overwhelming power to destroy people to the very core of their being.
I’m reminded of inspiring Hope and this Poem of Footprints In The Sand.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?”
Recently I’ve met this woman friend (“nothing remotely intimate”) who has suffered the heavily laden stigma of Incest. In her childhood her parents never instilled faith in God, nor was she told any importance of having to go to church. She has never revealed to me what denomination if any she belonged to. Being a Victim myself who suffered Gang-Rape and Torture at Gunpoint, I do have a most empathetic and compassionate understanding of how Rape Traumatic Syndrome and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can effect human psychology.
Stigma and Pain can force victims of rape and incest to put up masks and walls of vulnerability because pain can be so unspeakably poignant. She is seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist to help her deal with her stigma.
However; she doesn’t believe how any God could permit such a profound event as incest-rape to happen to her. It’s so very sad and heart-wrenching.
Perhaps I was the lucky one to have a loving family where my respected beloved parents instilled my Catholic Faith inside me by going to Mass every Sunday and teaching us about God. And later on in life God took over and began writing His gentle loving concerns and this ongoing Faith and Spirituality on the inside walls of my heart. I owe most of my healing from God, not secular Psychiatry or Psychology although I still see both when I have painful setbacks trying to pick up many of the lost shattered pieces of pain and the complete missing sexual identity in my life despite my superficial exterior of the flesh being a man, mostly Asexual with former remnants of my Heterosexuality. Adopting a “strict” Asexual lifestyle is what the stigma of rape has done to me. There was a time in my life that I felt totally abandoned by God. I even had an anger against Him. But thankfully it was God who helped me find the humility and sorrow to relent my feelings and find healing little by little by having my cherished Faith in God to fall back on.
My apologies for the long writ. My heart though goes out to this new woman friend who has suffered great pain from a former life of incest. I realize that Faith in God cannot be forced on anyone. This woman needs a tremendous amount of healing and prayers. Not really sure how I can witness my Faith in God to her anymore other than being supportive in a genuine empathetic and compassionate manner without being judgmental.
It is so sad that Rape, Incest and Spousal Abuse have this overwhelming power to destroy people to the very core of their being.
I’m reminded of inspiring Hope and this Poem of Footprints In The Sand.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?”
Code:
The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints,
is when I carried you."