"An Ode to Survivors" from One Survivor to Another Survivor

9.7.23 | From My Heart to Yours

Dear Reader,

This morning I was blessed with a special moment that moved me to tears of joy. I want to share that moment with you because I believe it will have a profound impact on you as well.

I was in a group text this morning with two incredible survivors (and previous podcast guests). One of them expressed she was struggling and the other quickly responded back with what you are about to read below.

I pray you take something good from this as I have…

“Transparent moment… I’ve always kept my private pains private and only when the wisdom gained from an experience might bless someone else do I testify about it. Someone asked me, “How did I recover from the horrific abuse I suffered as a child?” The short answer is, recovery is not a destination, recovery is a life-long journey. I will never unexperience what I experienced, I will never forget being molested, I will never forget starving or having to disconnect from reality to survive reality. I will never be the same, and perhaps that is because abuse changes you. It changes you in ways that only abuse survivors and anointed people helpers can truly understand.

You don’t get over it, you get to use it. You get to use it to honor yourself for surviving what could have, what almost did, kill you. You get to use it to walk closer with God than most and have a relationship with God that most won’t understand because when you survive what should have killed you, you know you didn’t meet grace when you read about it, you met grace when you couldn’t do anything about it. You get to use it to know that God does work all things together for the good. You get to use it to truly understand what the Bible means when it says, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” You get to use it to read the Bible with different understanding, because you, like Paul, have a thorn in the flesh. You get to use it to understand your Savior’s grief in the garden, as if you were there, because your own experience was so grievous that it caused your soul to sweat blood. You get to use it to fight for the abused and defend the oppressed with a passion that surpasses all understanding. You get to use it to truly understand what the Bible means when it says, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

You don’t get over it, you get to a point in your healing journey where you start to realize that you’re unstoppable, and that you were put on this earth and anointed for a purpose bigger than you. You see the enemy differently, you feel pain differently, you see faith differently, you see hope differently, you see relationships differently, you see love differently, you see God’s mercy differently. You see scars differently because you know, like Jesus, scars are proof that hell was defeated, and purposed to help somebody else know that God is still in the resurrection business. 

You can’t go back to who you used to be beloved, because you’re not who you used to be. You trust God differently, you pray differently, you see life differently, you worship differently, you see healing differently… you know the cost of the oil in your alabaster box. You won’t forget, you won’t ever unsee what you saw. You will continue healing forward despite what happened to you, you will do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you hoped for or imagined… to honor your survival, to give others silent permission to believe that God is able, to reclaim your destiny and to give God the glory for your story. 

You will never be the same, you will be powerful beyond measure because you know, “When you are weak God is strong.” You won’t be people dependent; you will be God dependent. You won’t be easily persuaded, and you won’t be easily convinced of anything that doesn’t make sense. Your circle will be small and tight, your self-esteem won’t be “others-esteem” and your relationship with God will be highly personal…because when you come through the fire, you’re not the same. God gives us beauty for our ash’s beloved. 

Bless you.'“

May God bless you, Dear Reader, and may you soak this message in and pass it along to whoever else may need to hear it today.

You. Are. A. Warrior.

I love you.

Love always,

Emma Katherine

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