Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A Second Post from Joseph

(This is the second of three posts from Joseph.)

I gave my counselor the following list at my session this week.

What I’ve Learned/Concluded about Myself

1. I didn’t deserve the childhood psychological abuse or the adolescent sexual abuse that happened to me.

2. I didn’t have a father who loved, nurtured, and protected me; but all the time, through the years, God, the truest Father, was loving, nurturing, and providentially protecting me.

3. Through the years, I avoided fellowship with men because I was afraid I would act unmanly and they would think I was a pervert. I realize that in doing that, I was avoiding the very men who could have affirmed my maleness.

4. It takes a real man to look past abuse and personal failures in the eye and with the help of a counselor gain assurance that you didn’t start the abuse. Next admit and accept the resulting sins and failures, but then turn around and face the future with your head up. I have; I am a man!

5. This year has been the best year of my life because God has brought a change in me. I know how Scrooge felt on Christmas morning!

6. I cannot use the past tense and say, “I am recovered,” but I can with confidence use the continuing present tense and say, “I am recovering.”

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