Christianity Oasis Forum

[stillstanding]

God bless you dema <3

your post spoke volumes to me! thank you so very much for sharing

[dema]

Work is busy. God is obviously alive and well.

Day 5 – Christ’s Sacrifice

You've heard the following every Easter, think about the words following 'for':

Isaiah 53 (New American Standard Bible)
5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

Because we transgressed, didn’t follow the rules, He was pierced.

Because of our sins, he was crushed.

He was mistreated and scourged, beaten in a horrible way, in order to give us health and well-being.

Jesus died to atone for our sins. But, Jesus suffered in order to give us a better life and to heal us.

Consider the previous verse:

Isaiah 53: (New International Version)
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

Jesus willingly took up our frailties and diseases. He accepted them and did so in the past tense. He has already suffered for our sorrows. He wasn’t stricken by God because of anything that Jesus Himself did, but was afflicted that we might not be.

John 16 (New International Version)
21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.

We are the Lord’s joy, when we accept Him and all He has done.

John 10 (New International Version)
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Satan wants us miserable. Jesus wants us abundant and joyful. We choose by the thoughts in our minds and the words on our lips. We choose to accept the sacrifice that Jesus already gave.

[dema]

Please pray for my health.

I went to the doctor yesterday just because I didn't feel good. And he said I had a lot of swollen glands and took some blood. I've been sick more in the past year than probably in the last decade or longer combined. He suspects mono.

Work has picked up to the point where we are just soooo busy. I'm thinking about going in to work. Or going to buy geraniums - so obviously I'm not sooo bad.

Anyway, would appreciate your prayers. Thanks.

[stillstanding]

prayers goin up dema feel better soon

much loves

[dema]

Felt good today. Thanks for the prayers.

[Lani]

Glad to hear that dema, prayers remain sis.
When do ya expect to hear from dr?

Peace n Luv in Christ,
Lani

[dema]

Feeling good today also. I hear back tomorrow. Thanks.

Exciting Sunday School today.

[dema]

I really think that part of the reason that abuse victims insist on blaming themselves is because if they had fault, then they had control. If they had just done it right, it wouldn't have happened. And if they just do it right next time, it won't happen.

The issue here is that adults and children are not the same. If you, as an adult, do it "right" next time - it certainly should never happen again. Keep your doors locked, don't walk in bad neighborhoods without a group of people with you, be aware.... that's great advice for an adult and will prevent the vast majority of abuse. Add prayer ....

But children are different. When you were a child, you didn't have your hindsight or the choice of where you went or who was there to protect you. You were physically small and vulnerable and in positions totally controlled by others. The responsibility for your safety now is primarily yours. When you were a child, the responsibility was NOT yours.

Society and logic accept that a child cannot take care of itself or protect itself.

A child CAN'T. Anything that happened to you when someone else was supposed to be protecting you - which is certainly ALL the time before you turned 12 and both globally and most of the individual minutes in your teens - anything that happened then was NOT YOUR FAULT.

Accepting blame or fault in this does not give you more control today. It just doesn't. And if you did enjoy parts of it. If you did enjoy Daddy telling you how pretty you were when he normally ignored you or belittled you - that is NOT YOUR FAULT.

Whether you enjoyed or didn't enjoy, participated or didn't participate - it still is NOT YOUR FAULT.

The responsibility for your safety was NOT YOURS.

If you broke your arm while climbing on the refrigerator to get cookies - there shouldn't be blame involved. You were a kid.

If you enjoyed being touched and complimented and cuddled - that is NORMAL. Particularly for a hurting little kid who probably only got attention while being abused. That happens a LOT. The kid only gets attention while being abused and enjoys the attention and so blames themselves for the abuse.

WRONG!!!!!!

Not your fault!

I think sometimes people have these little whispers in their heads saying, "But she doesn't know that you smiled. She doesn't know that you hugged your daddy. She doesn't know that you walked out of the bathroom in a towel. She doesn't know that you forgot to lock your bedroom door. She doesn't know that you didn't scream. She doesn't know that you wanted to be hugged and kissed. If she knew these things she would hate you."

No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I understand. You were normal. You were normal. That is the way the heart of a little girl works. You needed love, you did, you did, you did. You needed to be hugged, you needed to be touched, you needed to be told that you were pretty and desirable and lovable and a wonderful little girl. You needed it. You are normal except that you are very, very hurt. You are! Really, really, really!

I love you. I do. God loves you so much, he does. Really, really, really.

I don't know who this was particularly meant for - if somebody thinks I am singling you out - well, I know at least 4 people for who this could be specifically directed and I don't know if it was actually any of you for whom it is. I am sure it is specifically directed for somebody or somebodies. I'm sitting here with my hair wet wrapped in a towel because I felt urgently directed to write this.

Somebody out there is really, really in God's spotlight right now. I really, really want you to know that God has angels weeping for you with their arms out wanting to hug you and hold you.

Let God tell you if it is you. Please. Let your guard down for a minute and say, "God, is this for me? Do you really, really love me?"

I love you. Whether you are one of the sheep that I do dearly love and know through this site, or whether you are someone else. I love you. And I am here.

[dema]

This may trigger - so if my previous post bothered you - please skip this one:

When a person is sexually assaulted by someone they know:

Generally there is some seduction - and the child loves the seduction part. The child doesn't know that it is seduction, but they love the attention.

Yes - this is normal.

The child may actually like part of the sexual contact. The sex organs are pleasure centers - they give pleasure. But the child knows it is wrong - but the adult is telling them it is okay. Knowing it is wrong when a person in authority both tells them it is okay and tells them not to tell, that they will get into trouble completely blows the kid's mind. Circuits misfire and the child doesn't know what to do.

The devil sends shame and blame. From that point, most children simply cannot tell. They are so sure they will get into trouble, that everybody will hate them, that nobody will ever love them again - that they simply cannot tell. Frequently they cannot tell for decades.

They also realize that if they do tell, and it is as wrong as they think it is, that their daddy or whomever will go to jail. And they love their daddy. Even if they hate him they love him. More confusion. And if daddy goes to jail - who will work? Mommy might not believe. Mommy might be jealous. Mommy will hate them forever.

And these last things are too frequently true. Mommy cannot face it - would much rather believe the child is lying. But, because part of her believes that the child may be telling the truth, she does not get help for the child's problem.

I imagine that you are overwhelmed with this much info. Somehow, you need to learn and believe that what happened as a child wasn't your fault. And that it probably screwed up your behavior as an adult. Well, we know it did, don't we?

[Dora]

Thank you for sharing this.

[dema]

Talking to people, well some children were hurt when they were so young. And when you are a little kid you are supposed to do what adults say. You are supposed to trust adults. And when it happened, the person you trusted betrayed you. And after it happened, you were shamed. And you knew that you had eaten the forbidden fruit. And you knew that you were naked. And you hid because of your shame. And you didn't want to go back to where you could be hurt again - but telling the shame was more than you could do. The shame chased you and followed you and blinded you. It was all around you - the shame. This big cloud - shame. And you probably thought that other people could see it because it was so real - but you couldn't tell them, you just couldn't.

Telling is what chases the shame away - part of it, anyway. But, you have to tell it right. Because that shame is everywhere with everyone and if you tell it wrong, other people's shame can pursue you as well. We all know shame - not the big, horrible, shame that you have experienced. But there is this fear of shame, this horrible - no, no, it can't happen to me. It can't happen to mine. If she was truly innocent it wouldn't have happened to her. She must have done something wrong because if she didn't then it could happen to me, it could happen to mine and I can't face that, i can't, I can't, I can't.

And so, you need to be very careful who you tell. And how you tell it. There are people trained in this.

But you WERE INNOCENT. No little child has guilt in this. NONE. And you couldn't tell. You just couldn't. Children can't. Most women can't. It takes years of the pain and the pressure and the guilt and the shame putting pressure on the inside before most people realize that they MUST tell. They must let it out. They throw up to get it out. They cut and bleed to get it out.

But, to get it out, to really get it out - means accepting the blood of Jesus, that washes away all sin and blame and shame. It makes you innocent again. Even if you had fault or blame or anything like that - it washes you clean.

You didn't, you didn't, you didn't have fault or blame in any of this.

You were a little bunny rabbit attacked by an awful coyote. A mean, skinny, red-eyed coyote. You were a bunny rabbit. A little, cute, fluffy bunny rabbit.

You were soft and innocent. Sweet. Lovable. And he ate you up. Just devoured you.

The blood of Jesus washes you clean - but you still need to find a way to talk this out. You need someone who knows how to talk this out.

By the stripes of Jesus you were healed - you are well if you accept the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus loves the little children and says that it would be better to have a millstone - a several ton stone - tied around that coyote's neck and then have him cast into the sea than what is going to happen to him when Jesus gets hold of him.

By the way - you need to give him to Jesus. Jesus has the millstone and you don't. Let Jesus have him. You can't do anything to him anyway - just give that coyote to Jesus. Let him go.

You are white as snow. White as snow. White as snow.

[dema]

While cleaning Scotty's cage, I put his empty little bowl on top of his full bigger bowl. I was reading and heard kerklump behind me - and turned to find hiim on his back in the bottom of the cage with legs flailing and the little bowl on his head. He was fine, but was mightily embarrassed as I laughed for several minutes - he's the one in my picture.