APRIL IS NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH

Since April is National Child Abuse Month, I wanted to remind all of you that we need to be doing everything possible to help the many victims of child abuse. Because of my background I am particularly concerned about the statistics of sexual child abuse that continue to grow in our
country...IT IS NOW AN EPIDEMIC!

When I wrote my book, "Father, Forgive My Father" the statistics were high, but lower than today. Now we can safely say that 1/2 of our population has experienced some kind of child abuse, and in the majority of these cases the child has been sexually abused. Many of our states across the country have tightened their child abuse laws, making the penalties much more harsh. This is as it should be...after all, the abuser has robbed this child of his/her innocence and altered the path of the victim's entire life. When we were in the Caribbean a few years ago, I did a little survey of some of the islanders we encountered. I asked them, "Do you have much sexual child abuse here?". Almost all of them said the same thing: "No, we don't have problem...if you touch the child, you do life in prison." No THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT...you're DONE after one abuse. If we had tougher laws like that, there would be no abuse, and our society wouldn't be sick and our prisons wouldn't be filled with victims of sexual abuse who went on to abuse others. In honor of National Child Abuse Month, I wanted to re-post a blog I posted on 2/26/07...please read on.

ADVICE TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE
When I was at a recent conference, on one of the breaks, I had a profound thought (one of my few, and it doesn't happen very often...so when it does, I think, "It must be God".) Well, the word ACT came to mind, and I started thinking of words that had significance to healing from
sexual abuse, and this is what I came up with. Break down the word ACT:"A" stands for "acknowledge" that you have been a victim of abuse, and are not at fault; "C" stands for "confront" your abuser or those responsible for your abuse. Some victims say, "I can't confront the abuser; he/she is dead. Well, YES you CAN, even if they are deceased. Just visually place them in a chair in front of you and go through the confrontation as if they were sitting there. Tell them how it made you
feel, how you suffered, and, even though you will NEVER forget the deed, you have FORGIVEN them...because that's what's important to your healing. If the abuser is still alive, you need to prayerfully seek God's timing in confronting he/she. You need to get it out, and they need to accept responsibility for what they did. The "T" stands for TALK ABOUT IT; healing begins with getting it out in the open and talking about it, whether it be to your friends, family, counselor or pastor, you NEED to talk about it. The more you do, the less painful it is, and you can then get past it and be healed. Praise our wonderful,understanding and healing God. Our God can do ALL things! And WE can do all things through Christ who strengthens us...AMEN!

In closing this blog, I would like to ask all of you to help, by educating yourselves to the many signs of child abuse.  My book has a whole section on how to recognize these signs, and what to do if you expect that someone has been abused.  This child needs your help, and will forever be grateful for your helping hand.  And, when it comes time for you to do something toward toughening our laws, please help by making your voice heard.  Let people know how you feel about those who rob children of their childhood and innocence.  This subject is no longer "taboo" in our society, and we need to come out of the dark ages and help the abused.  Please do your part by voicing your support of child abuse prevention.  Thanks for anything you can do.

and REMEMBER...

 
"The only people who are truly free are the ones who walk in a spirit of continual forgiveness."