The Journey to Self Discovery

This topic of spiritual abuse has echoed in my heart and mind for years, and lately, I've seen a rise in conversations on it through emails and social media. So many people share stories that sound familiar to my own, and I felt it was time to address it openly once again. Spiritual abuse is real, and if you’ve experienced it, know that you’re not alone. I lived under the heavy weight of spiritual abuse for 26 years. It scarred me and left me skeptical of churches or ministries that use intimidation and manipulation as tools of control. In my experience, spiritual abuse can involve a variety of tactics meant to silence, control, or manipulate followers. Here are just a few examples that I’ve personally encountered: Pressure to Stay Despite Burnout : A minister once told me that even though I was physically and emotionally burned out, leaving the ministry would mean losing all of my God-given gifts. Exclusive Teachings : A church I was involved in claimed that it alone had the “true...

Anger is not a bad thing, if it is APPROPRIATELY EXPRESSED. Expressing it inappropriately will usually get us nowhere and can badly back-fire. However, its appropriate expression is often most effective. As we begin to realize that what was done to us as children was wrong, anger often emerges (especially when we start to understand all the ramifications of how we have subsequently been affected by it). Repressing anger (‘bottling it up’) is often painful and stressful. We can also get to the point when we can contain it no longer and this might result in it being MISDIRECTED (expressed against the wrong person) or in it being expressed in a DESTRUCTIVE and DAMAGING way (to both ourselves and those we interact with). It is much better if anger is MANAGED and only expressed in a manner which is beneficial. For some, expressing anger gives rise to a feeling of power, the power that was denied us in childhood, and can therefore feel that by expressing this...