Children are… “the apple of Christ’s eye”
Children are uniquely… “accompanied by Christ”
Abuses to children may as well have been… “personally applied to Christ”
Christ is never… “the author of abuse”
Paraphrase Lamentations 3:58-59 in your own words.
“Oh, Lord, you are my Counselor and my Savior. You are also a witness to the crime committed against me. Bring about justice.”
Fill in the following blank: ‘Such things “must come” but woe to the man through whom they come!’
In your own words, why will some level of child victimization probably continue to occur in our world as we know it?
“The world is a damaged place, fractured by sin, inhabited by fallen humanity. Sinful people will continue to give in to their temptations to do whatever sinful things they want to do.”
Another reason for child victimization is impossible to overestimate. What other forces are at work according to Ephesians 6:12?
“the spiritual forces of evil”
Compare to Timothy 2:26. According to the Scripture, why does the devil try to trap people? Choose one. To… “do his will”
Satan has enticed all of us to sin, but have you ever experienced a time when, in retrospect, you believe Satan was trying to ‘ruin you’? “Yes”
The fact that you are in an in-depth Bible study tells me that he did not succeed in the long run. Why didn’t he?
“It was a one-time decision in the course of my life. The only long-term success he has is from the altering of my course. I repented and made peace with it, though I do sometimes wonder what my life would be like today if I were fully within God’s plan.”
In your opinion, how could childhood victimization eventually trap someone by enticing conduct that could ruin the person in question?
“If by victimization we are meaning sexual abuse, the victims often become sexually promiscuous and get pregnant too young, or get diseases, or simply ruin the full enjoyment of sex with a spouse and no one else.”
Who is the ‘accuser’ according to Revelation 12:10? “Satan”
Why might the accuser be the chief abuser?
“First, he helps encourage the human abuser to give in to his or her heinous sin, then he torments the victim about it for years after.”
My child, Rachel, I loved you before you were born. I knit you in your mother’s womb, and knew what your first and last words would be. I knew every difficulty you, Rachel, would face. I suffered each one with you. Even the ones you didn’t suffer with Me. I had a plan for your life before you were born. The plan has not changed, Rachel, no matter what has happened or what you have done. You see, I already knew all things concerning you before I formed you. I would never allow any hurt to come into your life that I could not use for eternity, Rachel. Will you let Me? Your truth is incomplete unless you view it against the backdrop of My truth. Your story, Rachel, will forever remain incomplete… until you let Me do what only I can do with your heart. Let Me perfect that which concerns you. I remain, Your Faithful Father.
Dearest Rachel –
Once again, I find you apparently referencing an incident which you had referred to in another note or two that I’ve found as your “biggest sin.” And while even the study guide asks you to use ‘general and discreet terms’ to describe it, I think I recall what you’re talking about. If it is what I’m thinking of, I do remember you tearfully relating what you thought you had done. You later sought professional confirmation, and were told that what you had done (or thought you had done) could not possibly have effected the result you claimed to have seen and felt.
But you were not convinced, or maybe (in keeping with the words of the Sermon on the Mount) you thought that the intent was embedded in your actions, rendering you culpable regardless. Be that as it may, you mentioned being struck by the phrase from Matthew about “Rachel weeping for her children,” and the fact that it referenced you by name (while technically referring to Jacob’s favorite wife as the ancestral mother of the innocents of Bethlehem) left a mark within you that seems to have scarred you for life. You never really spoke to me about it after your professional consultation, and from the words you write here, you seem to have come to terms with it, but it was still there, deep down, wasn’t it?
I wonder if you were greeted or confronted by any evidence of what you thought you had done when you crossed over, or if you received a final confirmation that all was well regardless. Possibly both. It’s not really my story to tell, even though I’m the only one here who knows any of the details at this point.
That aside, I realize this particular chapter leaves you mostly speaking in generalities. While it makes for a less exciting or interesting life, it is something of a blessing to have a stable and loving home life and community to grow up in, so that we don’t have nearly the emotional and spiritual damage that seems so commonplace among people today. We don’t know what it’s like – or what it takes – to be mended when we haven’t been exactly broken; those who are and do, we have trouble relating to. We simply don’t understand where they’re coming from, or what to do for them, if anything.
Which, I suppose, is where we are left to leave it up to God. We can serve Him in various capacities toward His ends, but in the final analysis, it is He that grants the absolution they crave, and the healing they need. As with you, there will always be internal scars, but He has the power to make anyone whole again. He brought the first of us into form from dust and clay, after all; He can surely rebuild those who are fully formed and only damaged goods.
Letters to Rachel 