What does it mean to bear witness? Basically, that we testify; we offer evidence or proof that something is true or that something has happened.

And why is it important? In part because, as survivors, there is often so much that we just aren’t sure about. Sometimes when we were children our abusers told us that something was true, or right, or good, and we later learned that those things were false, or wrong, or evil.

As adults, we still sometimes struggle to know what is true or what has really happened. This uncertainty leads to fear, confusion, and deep insecurity.

Those lies and deceptions were not our fault and there was nothing we could do to control them. Now, though, we have more experience and wisdom; we have more ability to discern truth. And as we start bearing witness to truth, we can gradually strengthen that ability.

Over time, we can learn to distinguish fact from feeling; we can delight in the fact that beautiful, everlasting deeper truth underlies ugly surface truth. We learn to do this over time, as we practice bearing witness.