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- Herausgeber: Proisle Publishing Services
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
As a woman, you wouldn't go to a pawn shop for a clerk to haggle some demeaning price for your priceless body parts; so, why trade your worth for a fist in the face, bruises on your body, abusive words in your ears, or even a rent check. We as women were meant for so much more!
You can make it! Breaking the Cycle of Abuse, helps women recognize the real enemy behind the violence they suffer and drives home the point that we're nobody's punching bag. It is a testimony to how faith in God's design for your life trumps anyone else's summation of who you are. You only need to believe it!
It is our hope that this book will spark a revolution in your life to live an abuse-free life! You can make it out of this abusive cycle that has controlled your life for far too long! Let this tiny book inspire big changes to break that cycle once and for all!
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You Can Make It!
Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
By
C.W. Sistrunk
Copyright © 2023 by C.W. Sistrunk
ISBN digital copy: 978-1-960224-33-0
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher disclaims any responsibility for them.
To order additional copies of this book, contact:
Proisle Publishing Services LLC
1177 6th Ave 5th Floor
New York, NY 10036, USA
Phone: (+1 347-922-3779) [email protected]
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 ..................................................... 1
Fighting’s Without, Fears Within ................ 1
Chapter 2 ..................................................... 7
The Beginning of Sorrows ........................... 7
Chapter 3 ................................................... 23
Why Trim Your Way To Seek Love? .......... 23
Chapter 4 ................................................... 45
The Broken-Hearted.................................. 45
Chapter 5 ................................................... 58
God Turns Rough Roads into .................... 58
Beautiful Destinations ............................... 58
Fix Your Dress ........................................ 60
Womanhood as a Commodity .............. 63
Know Your Worth.................................. 66
Dedication
This year, 2022, marks 40 years since witnessing the loss of my mother,
Margaret Thomas Woods, to the epidemic of domestic violence.
Mom, in celebration of your courageous act in barring violence from our lives. I dedicate this book to you. You paid the price with your
own life to keep us safe. You will forever be
my example to never be afraid to walk away from violence, no matter what.
Preface
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
ruler of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. - Ephesians 6:12, (KJV)
Growing up, I enjoyed watching the theatrics of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) wrestlers like the entertaining Hulk Hogan. I quaked at the intimidating presence of Andre the Giant, mimicked the raspy voice of Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage, and dreaded the death toll as The Undertaker took to the ring. I watched anticipating that takedown moment when these wrestlers performed their signature moves to finish their opponents! I loved wrestling so much as a kid that I tried to imitate their moves. It was all staged of course, but it was still exhilarating to watch. Although I was a fan of the spectator sport, it was an entirely different experience as a child with a front-row seat to real-life, violent wrestling bouts in the raised ring of our home. In my youth, I silently watched as my stepfather drew actual blood from my mother and instilled a perplexing mix of fear and love in my heart.
While my stepfather never abused me, I watched my mom endure violent blows from his fist, belt buckles, or whatever he could find at the time to express his anger and frustration. Although hateful to my mother, my stepfather treated me kindly. I felt a kind of bizarre favoritism from him as I suppose my other siblings might have experienced as well. I don’t remember a time when he disciplined me with his voice or his belt. He took me places, played with me, and made me feel accepted. This was puzzling to me receiving such tenderness from him after witnessing him exhibit such harmful behavior towards the woman who birthed me. Perhaps I felt that all men walked in such contradiction - loving one minute and harming the next. The reason for this dichotomy within my stepfather would later be revealed.
It was by way of his death certificate that I learned the reason for his dual personality and the cause of my stepfather’s death. It was a
“self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head due to or as a consequence of schizophrenia paranoid type, deceased at the age of 32.” After so many years, I realized that my stepdad wasn’t a monster at all. He was a man split in two unable to navigate the rough road he was dealt.
Many years after I witnessed him lift that gun to his head and pull the trigger, I found myself raising my own children and experiencing one abusive relationship after the other. One night, after praying to know why I was going through the abuse I suffered, I dreamt my children and I were being chased by my stepfather who at this time had been dead many years.
To find safety in the dream, I hurried my children down something that appeared to be a pier. It was night and one of my sons slipped and fell into the water that surrounded us. The rest of the children and I worked together to hurriedly recover him to find shelter in a small structure that stood at the end of the pier. My stepfather angrily followed us, walking with a pistol in his hand. Once inside and having nowhere to hide, my children and I fearfully stood face to face with my stepfather who in the dream, positioned himself at the entrance of the structure leaving us with nowhere to run. He didn’t say a word and neither did I, but there was no doubt that he was there to inflict harm upon me and my children. He raised the gun in his hand and pointed it in our direction as we cried out for help.
Suddenly, a man who was a member of the local church I attended jumped out of nowhere and shot my stepfather three times center mass. He instantly fell dead. I was relieved that we were no longer in any physical danger, but before I could utter a sigh of relief, I saw a spirit - airy, dark, and looming like smoke but with a human form - rise from the dead body of my stepfather. Before I could say anything, it rushed towards us like the wind. In my astonishment, I was immediately awakened from my sleep. I realized from this dream that it wasn’t my physical abuser that I defended myself and my children from it was a spiritual evil at work that sought to kill me and my offspring. I was in the fight of my life.
Unlike WrestleMania in which flesh contends with flesh to overthrow the other, spiritual wrestling is a conflict between the nonphysical in which we contend against demons and resist the ruler of the darkness of this world – Satan. The word wrestle is used in the Bible to denote a contest in which two contenders attempt to overthrow the other. The victor is triumphant when the opponent’s neck is locked in his or her grasp. What I’ve come to know about that dream so long ago is that we have an adversary attempting to overthrow us in our walk with God, in our love for ourselves and our neighbor, in our God-breathed dreams and aspirations, in our relationships and careers. Yet, like physical wrestling, we believers have signature moves – prayer, worship, faith, the Word of God, fasting, thankfulness, and most of all, the name of Jesus.
These weapons of our warfare seem ordinary to the human mind, but they are extraordinary and “mighty in God for the pulling down of spiritual strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…” (2 Corinthians 10:35, KJV). And you know what the beautiful thing about our warfare is, it’s already fixed. It’s a rigged fight! David says of the Lord in Psalms 18:39-40, “39for thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 40Thou hast also given me the necks of my enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.” Make no qualms about it. The enemy of our soul hates us. But remember it’s a set fight. You want to have the neck of your enemy- of the violent man that has turned your life upside down? I know you’re thinking it’s your abuser, but it’s someone greater operating behind the scenes and he has only come to kill, steal, and destroy. My hope for you as you read this book is for you to turn to God the only one who can strengthen you in this fight. My earnest prayer is for you to believe you have been given the victory over this abuse in your life. Trust God to lead you safely off this rough road, for only he “makes [you] dwell in safety” so that you will “in peace, both lay down and sleep” (Psalms 4:8, KJV). You can make it!
Chapter 1
Fighting’s Without, Fears Within
For, when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but were troubled on every
side; without were fighting’s, within were fears… 2 Corinthians 7:5 (KJV)
