Overcomer and Wounded-Healer

Hi! After thirty-one years of an abusive (verbal abuse) “marriage,” I finally got the courage to get a divorce, and then experienced a kind of abuse I’d never heard of: spiritual (abuse).  My church of thirty-one years voted me out of membership with my name up on a big screen, followed by the words: “conduct un-becoming a child of God.”  They did that to me on my birthday, no less.

Called to a meeting of deacons, and not allowed to have a woman with me and asked, “are you still having sex with your ex?!”  I had allowed the ex to stay in my house for awhile after the divorce.

I fought the abusive system for eighteen months to tried to stop the pastor (of disaster, LOL) from “counseling” any more women, because two of them wanted to commit suicide (because of his “counseling” skills).

Something lovely came from the ashes of that debacle: www.churchabusepoetrytherapy.com (faith-based poems of anguish, healing, hope and comfort came pouring from my wounded soul).  It has been a phenomenon; over 14,500 hits.

Elie Wiesel (survivor of Auschwitz) has written to me regarding the poems; I am so humbled and honored.

I've been published with the Ph.D.’s (amazingly!): www.psychiatricjournal.com, entitled: The Transcendent Child on Overconing Verbal and Spiritual Abuse

I believe we are all here for a purpose, and that is to make a difference; I do this by counseling abused women (moderator of an abused survivors’ group). No degree, but a lifetime (except for three years in the army), and extensive research has made me an “expert” in the subject of verbal (emotional) abuse.

I returned to school (psych.) at age sixty-one this fall, and recently won a scholarship; I was one of ten recipients out f 1,600 applicants in the U.S. and Canada.

Written my memoir: Ghost Child to Triumph (from a child with no voice, to someone who speaks up against injustice).

“They” say that “persistence is the key.”  If that is so, then I will eventually be successful. I’ve been writing to talk shows, magazines, newspapers, etc … to get the message out there regarding verbal abuse (also spiritual abuse).  It took me twenty-five years to find the book that saved my life: The Verbally Abusive Relationship by Patricia Evans.