The Lord Is My Courage by K.J. Ramsey

Author:K.J. Ramsey [K. J. Ramsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2022-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

I encounter so many clients and readers who are afraid of and even allergic to giving their pain from other Christians a proper name. We fear doing so will cut us off from any belonging we have, so we minimize the harm with nicer-sounding names and narratives like “church hurt” and “a difference of opinion.”

My clinical and personal experience tell me that usually we don’t just “get hurt.” Often, we’re harmed. And if we can’t name the injury, how will we apply the remedy?

The truth is, I didn’t just skin the knee of my spirituality. I didn’t just “have a misunderstanding” and hold a grudge like a shield over my heart. I wasn’t unteachable. I just was no longer willing to give the precious gift of my faithfulness to anyone other than Jesus Christ.

Spiritual abuse and religious trauma are terms that give us courage to rightly name just how deep these wounds go and, thus, how far the healing needs to reach.

I still believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, and the resurrection of the dead. So I also believe the church cannot be a communion that crushes. We cannot be people of the resurrection when we’re silencing anyone who says, “Your behavior is bullying me to death.”

People can dismiss the cries of the crushed all they want. They can decry deconstruction until someone gives them an award. But don’t for one second think they are saving the church from those who would tear her down.

The truth is, people like me and my husband have been and are being torn down, kicked around, gaslit, and slandered all over town.

It wasn’t until I named that I experienced spiritual abuse and religious trauma from pastors and church folk that I found the courage and commitment to heal my little limb of the body of Christ.

I’ll never stop loving the church. So I also won’t stop being honest about the harm that happens in her midst.

Whatever your pain, may you have courage to name your injury, because you are more than worthy of the remedy. Break the silence, beginning with yourself.

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