Tormented: Eight Years and Back

Excerpt from Peggy Joyce Ruth testimony book

Hope for the Abused -Pain Inspired Decision

I never cease to be amazed at the damaging decisions that I have witnessed people make through the years, simply because at some point, they were badly hurt. It is tragic to realize that one painful experience can cause someone to make a decision that produces heartache for decades to come. Obviously, those pain inspired decisions come straight from the enemy himself. I have never once seen good fruit come from a decision that was made based on pain.

All men are abusers. I will never again trust another man… I will steal if I have to—my family will never go hungry again… I have helped my last person. They always turn around and bite the hand that feeds them… I have been hurt for the last time. No one will ever hurt me again. Do any of those statements sound familiar? If not in your life, more than likely you have at least heard similar statements from other people.

There are people who have gone through some very painful experiences in their lifetime and no one cares more than our loving heavenly Father. Not only does He provide deliverance, but He also provides emotional healing, which allows the victim to become a new creature in Christ, able to forgive, to be healed and to lead a happy and fulfilled life in Jesus no matter how much pain there is from the past.

I recently listened to a television interview of a woman who had been raped. Her statement so perfectly describes the answer to pain inspired decisions. When asked how she felt toward her assailant, she responded, "He stole thirty minutes of my life, but I have made a decision that I will not allow him to steal one minute more by harboring hate in my heart." That is a perfect example of someone who refused to allow pain to dictate decisions that would affect the rest of her life.

© 2006, Peggy Joyce Ruth
http://www.peggyjoyceruth.org