Lin

“Barb writes that healing from such spiritual abuse entails finding someone to confide in to help unravel the abuse and lay it down in order to experience healing.  She lists the steps to recovery and gives hope that there is wholeness to be found.  Often wounded healers can reach back and help those who are going through the same process that they themselves experienced.  Talking things out with someone who understands or is just a good listener can be comforting and healing.”

This is harder than it sounds. There could be some very close to you that will NEVER understand because they have no experienced it. These can be folks who love you but are not there and will think you are going overboard or being unforgiving or disrespectful to the leader or something. YOu learn not to talk about it and then find yourself even lying about why you do not attend church there or why you stay away from certain people. Folks do not want to hear negative truth about an organization they think is great. They accuse you of gossip if you tell the truth. This is a huge hurdle. It is part of what is so isolating.

In my situation the abusers are kind of well known and well loved by even those not in the church. Because they are so ‘high up’ most folks do not know them as they really are. They know them by their public persona.

There really is a double edged sword for some. Even others who have been spirutally abused by the same folks are quiet because it affects their whole life…even their employment in some respects because of the far reaching influence of these well known folks. It is best if they just keep quiet because it is like fighting a huge PR machine. You will never be believed.