Words are powerful.....I decided instead of seeing myself as a "victim" or "survivor........I see myself as an overcomer! I feel that I overcame....a childhood of abuse, fatherlessness, poverty and molestation, 31 years of an abusive marriage and abuse from a church. How we think of ourselves is powerful....we can change our thoughts. Keeping a journal can be helpful, also. xo

If you wish you can begin to put the shame and blame where it belongs....on the abuser. I know how hard that is, because you fight the thoughts in your head. Perhaps think of it in terms of....if you had a child and he/she was abused, would you blame the child? Of course not. xo