Even though we may have suffered the damaging effects of abuse, our spirits can be lifted and healed and our burdens can be removed when we rely on the Savior.
Photo by Pixabay user Abelke
Many of the challenges we face in this fallen world arise not from our own mistakes but from the mistakes of those around us. When we suffer tragedies such as mental, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse because of the choices of others, we may carry long-lasting scars.
Fortunately, the gospel teaches us that such events are not our fault and that we can find comfort and relief in the Atonement of our Savior, who sacrificed for all of our mortal anguishes, even those not of our own creation.
In a touching story titled “The Burden Was Removed,” an anonymous author beautifully describes how she came to feel Christ’s love for her after she was sexually abused as a child. When she was a teenager, she told her bishop the truth about her abuse. After discussing the matter with him, she felt the burden of so many years lift off of her. “I felt the love of Heavenly Father,” she writes, “and I felt reassured that the abuse was not my fault and that I was still pure and virtuous.”
Every individual recovers differently from the effects of abuse, but every journey on the road to healing should include the Savior, who will stand at our side, helping and encouraging us along the way. God wants every victim of abuse to be able to feel “encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15). Through God’s love and Christ’s Atonement, the burden of abuse can be completely removed from us.
Read “The Burden Was Removed” in the Ensign or the Liahona.
—Tiffanie Abbott, Aurora, Illinois
feature image by pixabay user pezibear
Find more insights
Watch or read Elder Richard G. Scott’s general conference talks “To Heal the Shattering Consequences of Abuse” and “Healing the Tragic Scars of Abuse.”
Watch or read President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s general conference talk “The Hope of God’s Light.”