“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
—Psalm 145:18

As a child, I was often told not to “cause unhappiness.” So I learned that my sadness, grief, and anger weren’t things others wanted to deal with. And if telling my story involved feelings of shame or guilt in my little-kid-heart, I definitely wasn’t going to risk talking about them.

The Bible’s promise, though, is that God will always listen to us, even when others don’t want to listen. We don’t need to worry about being eloquent, or tactful, or generous to the people who hurt us. God recognizes the importance of our truth.

For survivors of any sort of trauma, being able to share your truth, your story, is critically important to healing. When we tell our stories—to God, to a counselor, or to others—we resist the pull of shame (which tells us, “Keep quiet! No one wants to hear that! They’ll judge you!”). Storytelling can also help us start identifying some emotions connected with traumatic experiences. In those moments, did we feel afraid, or sad? Were we angry with ourselves, or with someone else?  Were there other emotions?

Everyone deserves to tell their story in their own time and in their own way. No one should ever pressure you to tell your story, and you get to decide what details to include, if any. However and whenever you decide to share your narrative, please be assured that it’s a story that matters.  

NOTE FROM MARY: After I read what Erica wrote (above), it dawned on me that I had probably never told my story to God. So it felt a little weird but I marked 3:15 on my calendar. At the appointed time, I sat down for just five minutes to tell the Lord about some of my abuse.

That felt surprisingly painful. I’m sharing my discomfort now so that you can be prepared if you have a similar experience when you tell your story to God, or anyone else. A few suggestions:
-Go very slowly with this; get it out of your system a little at a time.
-Be honest about what you experience. I was surprised to find that I still feel angry with God for letting the abuse happen.
-Be prepared to have something restorative when you finish: something healthy that calms, soothes, or comforts you, something to remind yourself that your reality now is different, in many ways, from your reality when you were abused.