Prayer & Scriptures for Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Recently, I received a request from a reader to write a post with scriptures and a prayer template to pray for survivors of sexual abuse and trauma. Although I have not personally dealt with the trauma of sexual abuse, I have friends and family members who have, and I also work with a local Christian women’s restoration home (Glory House) where many of the women we help deal with this. Because I have not personally dealt with or recovered from this kind of trauma, I wanted to be sensitive and do my due diligence in researching this, praying about it, and speaking with people more versed than I am before I wrote about it.

As a result, I’ve written this post with the help and vetting of some recovered survivors of sexual abuse and with some direction from the leadership at Glory House. In fact, Ms. Susie Barnes, Executive Director at Glory House who has almost 25 years of helping women and their families, said to me:

“I’m still amazed by God and His ability to heal people from such trauma! It gives me great hope and confidence to tell others it is possible. Amen!”

My hope and prayer through this post are to provide some prayers, scriptures, resources, and hope for those who may have loved ones that are dealing with the trauma of sexual abuse. **Please note, that I am not an expert or a licensed professional and that this is merely meant to serve as a helpful resource. It’s also important to get proper help and counseling from people who are trained, experienced, and have dealt with the trauma of sexual abuse.

The good news is that nothing is too hard for God. There is hope for being healed and restored.

Prayer and Scriptures for Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Below you will find a compilation of prayers to pray for survivors of sexual abuse along with supporting, relevant scriptures. *At the bottom of the post, you will find a list of additional resources.

You don’t have to pray ALL of these things all at once or all of the time. You can just pick a couple of these things to pray for each day or pick the ones that are most relevant. These prayers are written to pray for someone else; however, they can most certainly be adapted to pray for yourself, if you are the survivor of abuse, by using personal pronouns (I, me, my, etc.).

Text in red are example prayers followed by reinforcing scriptures: Continue reading →

Overcome Insecurity Caused by a Tragic Circumstance or Incident

Sadly many of us have had the misfortune of dealing with a tragic circumstance or incident in our lives which can lead to insecurities and affect our self-esteem and self-worth. Painful and traumatic experiences can affect our identity and how we view ourselves. Tamar in the bible had to deal with a tragic circumstance of being raped by her half-brother, Amnon, and she felt shame and lived in desolation thereafter.

“But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her … But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying … so Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.” 2 Samuel 13:14, 19, 20b (NLT)

There are a variety of traumatic experiences that could affect our perceived worth and value. Death is a tragic circumstance that can sometimes cause low self-esteem. When we lose someone close to us, we not only lose that person but we lose the role that we played with that person which can sometimes affect our self-worth. We could potentially have feelings of insignificance, uncertainty, vulnerability, fear of the future, feeling of no longer being needed, etc. These same types of feelings can accompany a divorce (a death of sorts) and even a traumatic health problem or injury (cancer, debilitating injury, etc.) in addition to insecurities about appearances if they have been altered in any way. God HATES death and sickness and the pain and negative side effects that accompany them. God wants to set us free from these and heal us (physically and emotionally).

“And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:26 (NLT)

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV)

Abuse (emotional, physical or sexual) is a tragic circumstance that can make us feel like we have little value. It can lead to feelings that we are “damaged goods” or guilt that maybe we deserved the abuse somehow. Many people that have suffered abuse start to believe the lie that they are worthless and aren’t deserving of love and affection. God HATES abuse. He wants to protect and avenge us from this.

“The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence.” Psalm 11:5 (NLT)

Infidelity (emotional, physical, or pornographic) is definitely a tragic circumstance that affects one’s self-esteem and one’s worth and value. Often those on the receiving end of infidelity feel that if they were “enough” then the infidelity wouldn’t have happened. This can lead to feelings of being unloved or unwanted as well as leading to comparisons with the other person(s) involved (i.e. affair partners or pornographic images). The unfaithful person also struggles with negative feelings—especially guilt and a low sense of self-worth because of the pain that they have caused their loved one. God HATES infidelity and the pain of the aftermath that it causes. He wants to restore and heal people in these situations.

“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Hebrews 13:4 (NIV)

“But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:28 (NLT)

I’m sure there are many, many other examples of traumatic incidents that lead to insecurity other than the few examples I’ve given here. Ultimately God hates them all. He wants to free us from the pain that they cause. He wants us to see ourselves the way HE sees us and get an accurate view of our self-worth and value.

God wants us to see ourselves the way HE sees us & get an accurate view of our self-worth.

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If you are a victim of a tragic circumstance, God wants you to know: Continue reading →