Recently, my family underwent a tragedy in April of this year. My cousin’s ex-boyfriend murdered her and my aunt. The dictionary defines a pandemic as a “medical occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world”. The fact that we have a month dedicated to domestic violence awareness constitutes a pandemic to me.
All over the Bible, in both the Old and New Testament, God makes it plain how He feels about violence. God considers all acts of violence against humanity egregious. At the core of domestic violence, you will unfortunately discover generationally conditioned cycles of abuse and the oppression of those who are on the receiving end of this atrocious behavior. Most abusers have unsolved problems from the past that has guided them to be abusive.
Domestic violence is always about power and control. Most will recognize domestic violence as it only being physical. Yet there are other non-physical ways to utilize power and control as a weapon. Regrettably, we have chronicles painfully etched into society of what occurs when an abuser has influence or the results of a severely strained system that ignores trauma or personnel seemingly blind to the red flags that wave silently or sadly having to choose between the lesser of any evil. There are innumerable movies, documentaries, portraits, poetry and other forms employed to express the financial, emotional, mental impact of domestic violence. The loss of a loved one is difficult to embrace under natural circumstances. Yet the loss of a loved one through an act of domestic violence is completely different. Having to attend two funerals at the same time is not for the faint. Yet it was another reminder of what people endure quietly.
Family, if you know someone who is dealing with domestic violence, whether it is physical, emotional, economic or sexual, PLEASE encourage him or her to get help! The National Domestic Violence Hotline is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-799-7233. There are countless organizations available to assist them in leaving a perilous environment safely or afterwards for healing those soulful wounds. They can also contact HUSH No More at 1-888-285-2161 for FREE counseling and support services. Please let them know that they do not have to suffer in silence! Because domestic violence does not discriminate, each victim’s story is unique. Domestic violence crosses all lines. It does not matter your gender, (or however you categorize yourself) how much money you make, how old you are, how much education you have or your religious preference. Some may not believe it but, domestic violence distresses God. He will never desert any victim of these horrible circumstances. For those who know of or are currently dealing with domestic violence, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE THAT CRUEL MISTREATMENT! Anything dealing with oppression, power, abuse and control has nothing to do with LOVE. God’s plan for all of our relationships is for them to be a reflection of Who He is- LOVE.
Romans 8:31, 37-39 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God”.
Ephesians 55:1-2
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour”.
1 John 4:8, 16
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. “
Love Shouldn't Hurt!
Submitted Graciously,
Colette Jones