Nobody had the right to violate you
This post is the continuation of a series of posts following on from a paragraph that I read in 'Rid of my Disgrace' by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb. The opening paragraph of the first chapter was so helpful to me that I decided to break it down, sentence by sentence, and devote a post to each part.
The previous posts in this series can be found here, here, here, here and here.
You are a valuable person made in the image of God. You have dignity and you matter. What happened to you was a violation because the act done against you was against the very core of who you are: someone who has the right to be treated with respect and love because you were made with value and dignity. What happened to you was broke these rights and also broke the law. This was wrong. And NOBODY had the RIGHT to do this to you.
This is an important message that I need to hear so often. In my confusion over what happened to me, I focused on wrong things. My thoughts went like this: I must have been to blame. I must have done something to deserve it. There must be something about me that deserves this kind of abuse. It was all focused on ME in response to the abuse as though the abuse defined and shaped me. But, what I failed to grasp, was, nobody had the right to violate me. My focus started, not with my objective worth as a loved, valued person, but my focus started on their act assuming that they defined who I was. I assumed that I must have been unlovely, unvalued and undignified and so somehow deserved this.
What I needed to do was turn my gaze to the truth that I am a loved, image-bearer of the Creator of the Universe. From there, I could then begin to see clearly. From there I could begin to see what happened to me was a violation. It wasn't okay. No-one had the right to treat me like that because no-one has the right to treat any human being like that. God's image bearers demand respect, value and dignity because they objectively have value and dignity because of who they are. No-one can change that.
I'm not saying everything became easy for me overnight. I had years of wrong thinking to battle. I had to rewire my brain and I still struggle. I'd become so accustomed to thinking that what happened to me was my fault and was deserved, that I couldn't see that what had happened to me was a violation. This meant that I coulnd'nt tell anyone. I was ashamed. I couldn't see it for what it really was: a crime. And this affected everything.
Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26-27 were so helpful for me. I meditate on these verses often. I remember that I am made in the IMAGE of GOD. I AM VALUABLE. I HAVE DIGNITY.
The previous posts in this series can be found here, here, here, here and here.
Nobody had the right to violate you.
You are a valuable person made in the image of God. You have dignity and you matter. What happened to you was a violation because the act done against you was against the very core of who you are: someone who has the right to be treated with respect and love because you were made with value and dignity. What happened to you was broke these rights and also broke the law. This was wrong. And NOBODY had the RIGHT to do this to you.
This is an important message that I need to hear so often. In my confusion over what happened to me, I focused on wrong things. My thoughts went like this: I must have been to blame. I must have done something to deserve it. There must be something about me that deserves this kind of abuse. It was all focused on ME in response to the abuse as though the abuse defined and shaped me. But, what I failed to grasp, was, nobody had the right to violate me. My focus started, not with my objective worth as a loved, valued person, but my focus started on their act assuming that they defined who I was. I assumed that I must have been unlovely, unvalued and undignified and so somehow deserved this.
What I needed to do was turn my gaze to the truth that I am a loved, image-bearer of the Creator of the Universe. From there, I could then begin to see clearly. From there I could begin to see what happened to me was a violation. It wasn't okay. No-one had the right to treat me like that because no-one has the right to treat any human being like that. God's image bearers demand respect, value and dignity because they objectively have value and dignity because of who they are. No-one can change that.
I'm not saying everything became easy for me overnight. I had years of wrong thinking to battle. I had to rewire my brain and I still struggle. I'd become so accustomed to thinking that what happened to me was my fault and was deserved, that I couldn't see that what had happened to me was a violation. This meant that I coulnd'nt tell anyone. I was ashamed. I couldn't see it for what it really was: a crime. And this affected everything.
Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26-27 were so helpful for me. I meditate on these verses often. I remember that I am made in the IMAGE of GOD. I AM VALUABLE. I HAVE DIGNITY.
Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Nobody had the right to violate you.
I pray you will believe this.
Julia xx
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