Dear friends,
Yesterday, I posted Abigail's Story: Responses to Domestic Violence as the first in my series of interviews. Today, please welcome Elizabeth (not her real name). Her story reminds us that domestic violence sometimes happens where we least expect it -- in a home where both the husband and wife are active in Christian ministry. So, without further ado, here is Elizabeth sharing how people responded to her story of domestic violence.
1. What
comments or questions did you hear when you shared your story with others (family, close
friends, acquaintances, church leaders, social services, etc.)?
In fact, there are very few with whom I have shared my story. As
someone working inside the "professional Christian" world for so
long, I knew exactly what would be coming my way. I had watched it happen to
others. I have friends and colleagues in counseling and helping communities, in
mission agencies and denominational headquarters, in educational environments
and Christian universities: I knew exactly how I would be treated if I
separated from my husband. I knew what would be said, and it was.
Counselors who had said (for decades) "hang in there"
asked me in an accusatorial way why I didn't leave earlier. Ministry colleagues
-- and most of them wouldn't even speak to me because my husband had so visibly
built his victim case with them in the year preceding the second separation (an
earlier trial separation had produced no willingness on his part to seek
counseling together) -- accused me of:
- speaking against God's anointed
- undermining a man's life work
- being unsubmissive and unteachable
- opposing God and His word
- slandering a brother -- this in regards to the protective injunction
- making it impossible for my husband to raise funds, so tearing down my house with my own hands
- my need to repent and seek public forgiveness from my husband for motivations ranging from jealousy to lust -- I have always modeled complete fidelity to my marriage vows, to doing all I could, even now, to preserve whatever of actual Love remains, and could call a world of witnesses to this.
I didn't try to answer or defend myself: what,
after all, is the point? I have always subscribed to the philosophy that if I
live openly in freedom, truth and grace, what is actually true will be seen and
known....
Eventually. I accepted that I am powerless over the judgments of
others and their desires to manipulate me through punishment or threats. A
pre-divorce settlement with his lawyer -- I never hired one -- bound me to
silence regarding my husband in any church setting if I wanted to continue to
have insurance for my child (who had major medical issues) and myself.
Only someone who has been bound to a person with substantial
mental and emotional pathologies for a long time can understand the futility of
public engagement. I have been made to suffer substantially by my husband and
by some who claim, a little too boldly, that they speak for Jesus. I share the
details of this part of my life only with those I can help or encourage in
theirs, in privacy with personal openness in that context, but not anywhere
else.
The response of social services was to grant me an injunction,
with cause. Most family, acquaintances, even homeschooling colleagues, dropped
me like a hot potato. I think for most of them, the distancing was on a
self-protective, superstitious basis: if someone like myself could not keep the
demon of separation/divorce at bay, how could they? I was treated as if I
suffered from an infectious disease, for the most part, and that persists today
in most contexts. I don't take it personally, because it's not about me.
Suffering is not my enemy, but fear of suffering can make me susceptible to all
kinds of evil.
2. How did you respond
to the comments or questions at the time? How would you change that response
now that you know more?
My responses at the time were, in the main, silence, and where
that couldn't be avoided, predicated on already knowing how I'd be treated,
short and factual with documentation. The years prior to the separation were
ones in which I amassed practical knowledge and resources and help, including
counseling and seeking medical and psychiatric advice for the complex issues in
the spousal relationship and in the home.
It has not been a case of "knowing more and acting
differently." I think, given all the same circumstances, I'd choose the
same path again. I do wish there had been some support for the path of
separation-in-hope that I chose. I see no other way I could have protected or
provided for my child's needs any better than I did, without the benefit of
being omniscient and omnipotent or having endless financial resources.
Of course, I wish sometimes that I could wave a magic wand and
make things perfect in a way they never were, particularly as I watch my child
struggle in adulthood with certain issues that I know are secondary to this
long relational struggle and the medical/pscyhiatric issues related to it, but
that's a false thing to imagine, and engaged in too long could actually limit
my capacity to function as a person alive in Christ, to love deeply, and to
model for my child a devotion to truth and grace and wisdom.
3. What would you say to
another woman facing this struggle?
Trust God to redeem where you do not see His blessing. Base your
practical decisions on a Love that seeks Safety, Health and Freedom. Be
dove-gentle and serpent-wise and seek out heart, and where necessary, legal
counselors who know what that means.
In addition, I have created a Domestic Violence Resources page which not only has my article links from above, but also links to other sites, books, Central Florida centers, etc. You can find this page here: Domestic Violence Resources
Grace and peace,
~*~*~*
Thank you so much for sharing your story, Elizabeth. There are more women in danger within ministry families than we would care to admit. I hope this will encourage someone to get help and get to safety, even facing the potential shame and the backlash.
Here are the links to my other articles on domestic violence.
Each of them has even more links to other web sites.
- Abigail's Story: Responses to Domestic Violence
- Lynn's Story: A Dangerous Engagement
- We Can't Ignore Domestic Violence
- Bonding and Bondage in Abusive Relationships
- Psychological Socialism: Manipulating through Equalizing Blame
- Abuse Thrives in a Culture of Shame and Silence
In addition, I have created a Domestic Violence Resources page which not only has my article links from above, but also links to other sites, books, Central Florida centers, etc. You can find this page here: Domestic Violence Resources
Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
