“Born that Way”

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Elea Lee

Let me just say this: we have jettisoned history. We do not know it and it has led us into some serious foolishness.

When Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders [10] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

he was addressing a Greco-Roman civilization where children were castrated and bartered as slaves and prostitutes.

We moderns see this verse as divisive and hazardous–separating us into camps of sorts, but we need to work on our reading comprehension.

Read it again.

In my life I have been a few of those people on the list. I am a broken and hopeless person without Jesus.

Most sinners I know go to church often. Most are heterosexual. Most try to clean up their outside and hold on to their mendacity.

Paul is saying,

we all must come clean.

All
Clean
And verse 11 is a triumph, a resounding affirmation of the power of Love in us–to bring about life, healing, safety, and transformation.

Don’t miss God’s outpouring of grace because you refuse to believe you need a bath.

Trust Him. We all need a bath.

Finding

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Elea Lee

Pretend you are just a wisp of a thing
Standing in a maze
But…
Someone you
Love is looking out for you.

He says–

Mark 8:34-38 (NIV)
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [35] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. [36] What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? [37] Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? [38] If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Which can be translated–follow Me. Trust Me.

He can see the whole maze so I do. I do trust him. Sometimes in my life I have hoped there was an easier way through. I have always known that others wandered through their mazes and had to slay monsters…or be slain by them.

The ultimate question for me is not how?

He answered that when he came back from hell with my life in his hands.

No. The only question is when?

When will we all
Walk into the Light?
Glorious Light.

Rev. 22

Losing

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Elea Lee

We all hope it will turn out ok. We will be the ones–long full life, no pain. We optimists.

You have to be an optimist to foster and adopt kids you already know have problems. You have to believe in miracles.

Our belief in miracles went something like this: yes, we know they are tough kids, but consistency, love and faithfulness combined with God’s healing power will help these kids.

My goal was a picture–all my adult (stable, law-abiding) children gathering with their families for thanksgiving dinner.

So you may imagine what a blow to the gut it was to find out our plan hadn’t produced the picture. Our adopted kids hurt our family, hurt our other children. They committed crimes before they graduated from high school.

I still remember the old me, the believer in the miracle, the picture….

Part 1 of 2

The Picture

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Elea Lee

The poster shows familiar faces–Oprah, Ashley Judd, Tori Amos. There are people in it I did not know were sexual abuse survivors. I was a struck by the stories I did not know as the dozens of people who were survivors who weren’t on the poster.

Each made a choice to tell their story. Each has helped me to tell ours.

Victims become survivors when someone shows them they are not alone. What happened to them has happened to others.

We need to speak out.

To heal
To save others
To break the power of silence

The $100 Question

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Elea Lee

What would you do with $100?

What would you do with $10?

You get a gift, win a contest, you come into some legit but unexpected cash.

What do you do with it?

Answers can be posted here or on my Facebook link to this post.

Thanks.

5 a day

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Elea Lee

Last April I made a commitment to write about child abuse every day in remembrance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It was spiritually and emotionally painful.

This year I have committed to write about recovery. I don’t think most kids have happy, stress-free childhoods, but some experience more grief and trauma than others.

And then there are the five each day.

In the United States of America 5 children die each day from the fatal effects of child abuse. Beautiful little children like Toryn Buckman.

Imagine if it were 5 celebrities, 5 soccer moms, 5 athletes, 5 politicians. Any other group of people in this country gets killed off in groups of five or more a day and we would have a national crisis. It would be national news. It would be a scandal. Advocates would call for change.

But not children. Children in our country are second-class citizens. They have no voice. We have to be their voices.

When I contacted elected officials and bureaucrats to ask them to assist abused children to a man they said the same thing–this is not my issue.

Is it yours?

Forever

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Elea Lee

He says, I want to live here forever
Can we live here forever?
And I understand what he means–
We are close to heaven
Close to sanctuary

He doesn’t know
What happened to his sister
He doesn’t know
That everything
He does is a reminder
Of how very young she was
The ghost
Hurt my babies.

A Simple Plan

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Elea Lee

This has happened more than once.

I sit next to an adult and give them a version of my reasons for writing and they share their story.

This one involved mental illness, alcoholism, a tragic death and an injunction against talking about the truth. Children were made to bear witness to a terrible story and then could never talk about what they had experienced.

Mind-bending. And the norm. Most adults not only do not allow children to verbally process traumatic events, they often suppress these stories.

Incredibly destructive. No matter how tough, embarrassing or difficult the event, every child deserves a voice–a safe place to tell their tale of woe.

Otherwise the wound itself is exacerbated by the additional loss of trust in the grownups whose job it was to protect us.

Imagine Injustice

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Elea Lee

Imagine human values were marsupial–clinging to each of our heads.

One man would walk from his house to his car with animal lust clinging to his shiny pate. Another would shuffle to the mailbox as pride monkeyed with his ears.

Sure, some people’s resident animals would be symbiotic–well-mannered love, or the singing bird of truth, but far more would stagger about assiduously nursing their prejudices, manipulations, and vice.

Now imagine you are a child–astounded and a little afraid. All these nattering animals clinging to the necks of grownups! You eye them warily. Maybe dare eventually to raise a question or two–who are they? Why do they stay?

When you do. When you do the parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors look at you blankly-what are you talking about? There are no animals here.

Carrying Light

Words for light

Category Archives: child advocacy

“Born that Way”

Finding

Losing

The Picture

The $100 Question

5 a day

Forever

A Simple Plan

Imagine Injustice