But I am drained and a little bit edgy on this. I walked into church this morning, trying to hold my composure together. One of my pastors, who is also a professional counselor, immediately hurried over. “Virginia, I saw all the comments you have made on Facebook about the Duggar story. I want to let you know I am so proud of you. That was courageous.” I burst into tears as he assured me that this is important, that my voice needs to be heard, and that sadly, so many Christians still just don’t “get it” about abuse. Our senior pastor has also often responded this way to my blogs and FB interactions on abuse. I am so thankful for their timely kindness and encouragement. They know. They care. We need more like them.

Here are some others, just a few of the bloggers whose reason and compassion are evident:

• Dear Mike Huckabee by Mary DeMuth, an abuse survivor and Christian author – along with her other articles Josh Duggar and the Problem of Easy Forgiving and In faith communities like the Duggars, abuse victims are encouraged to be filled with grace. It’s not that simple.
• Christians and the Struggle to Report Child Abuseby Boz Tchividjian, abuse expert and founderof GRACE
• What Christians Get Wrong About Sexual Abuse by Samantha Field
• Heartbroken and Angry at Brenda Finding Elysium
• The Duggars: How Fundamentalism’s Teachings on Sexuality Create Predatory Behaviorat Diary of an Autodidact
• There Is No Victim: A Survey of IBLP Literature on Sexual Assault and Abuse at Recovering Grace, which addresses issues with Bill Gothard, ATI, and IBLP
• Thoughts on Learning of the Duggar Scandal at BJU Grace
• The Village Church: Child Pornography is Child Sex Abuse/ Josh Duggar /Christian Janeway’s Story at Wartburg Watch (multiple related stories in one post)

Finally, here are some of the articles I have already written which relate to this post in some way:

• Abuse Thrives in a Culture of Shame and Silence
• Vision Forum and Friends: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
• When Abuse Leads to Cynicism
• Psychological Socialism: Manipulating through Equalizing Blame
• On Patriarchy, Scandal, Abuse… and Grace
• Bonding and Bondage in Abusive Relationships
• The Bad Boy and the Angel
• Moving on from Broken – My Church and Life Transition Story

Grace and peace,