In the Bible, David was a person who had a lot of enemies of various types. Through his trials he learned this: “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so I shall be saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18:3)

I would never say that people can only be helped through formal religious practice, because God has all kinds of ways to reach people. I will say, though, that those of us who call ourselves Christians must learn to focus more and more on God in every situation and through every challenge.

Yes, when we were children our enemies did awful things to us (I’m a survivor too), things that should never have happened. It’s important for us to name those things—even if only in prayer, or saying what happened out loud when no one is around, if you’re not ready to tell someone else. We can lament and grieve the loss of innocence, relationship, safety, security. All of that is important for healing. And then we look to the Lord to help us move on. We don’t have to stay stuck. Let’s call upon the Lord, like David did. Let’s listen for God’s response in our hearts and work to do our part; let’s be confident, based on Scripture, that God is present and active in our lives.

Of course there’s always the question of why God allowed people to hurt us. I don’t have a complete answer but I think it has to do with choices. In order for humans to be created in God’s image, we have to be free to choose. Some people make bad choices; sooner or later, they will face the consequences for those choices. We are free to choose God’s way, and God is constantly choosing to transform the harm that was done to us.