Trust is the broken thread that unraveled long ago in the heart and soul of the victim of abuse.   She trusted, she believed, she was deceived, and her heart was stained with the quiet violence of a perpetrator's lust. She was taken in, and took the blame for her own victimization. Only now, as she walks the path of recovery does she dare to believe that it was not her fault. She has been told: "No matter how you responded, no matter what you said or did, if you were a child when the abuse began, you are not to blame. You are not to blame for the invasion of your soul by the perpetrator of abuse. He may have seduced you, or used bribes to induce you, he may have threatened to do you harm, or kill the ones you love. It doesn’t matter the method that he chose to gain access to your soul. He knew things you could not know, and used them to bend your will to his.For that, he will answer to the Father of us all."

So pity the abuser who will suffer after all. If he falls upon his face and begs the gift of Heaven’s grace, then perhaps he will suffer godly sorrow on this earth, if he does not, he may regret the day his mother gave him birth.

Be still my soul—and know that God is just and He is good,

Though sometimes he disdains to act the way we think God should.

His peace pervades where humble hearts surrender to His care,

When sin abounds and thinks to win—the Father lingers there.

He waits. He woos the broken soul to dare to trust again.

Though never will He force his claims upon the will of man.

The evil one does as evil will —and the child must pay the cost

Wandering in the shadowlands of shame, and grief, and loss.

But it is not the child bereaved whose wages will be death

But the one who trod on holy ground to steal from innocents.

 It is time for survivors of child abuse to discard their mantle of shame. It is the perpetrator who must bear the shame alone, until he comes face to face with the weight of his crimes and humbles himself before the Divine Father.  His sins were not done in secret, as he supposed, but in the sight of God whose justice will be served upon the unrepentant sinner as surely as mercy will be freely bestowed upon the person with a contrite spirit and broken heart.