Ben Wilson, LPC

Unfortunately, many who were hurt in childhood try to rid themselves of that wounded child's pain by forgetting it, shoving it aside, or burying it deep within. They often inadvertently rid themselves of a quality that is a requirement of the kingdom: their childlikeness. Jesus said, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:3). It is because of this requirement that I believe God brings us to the point of reckoning with our past pain.

Those of us who were abused as children lost some very precious qualities that God wants to revive: vulnerability, total dependence, trust, spontaneity, honesty, faith without fear, and expectant love...He brought resurrection life to the child within me. I often quote 2 Samuel 14:14, as it speaks to me of God's beckoning love: "But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him." God does plan ways to bring all those banished children to Himself, where at last they will be comforted, safe at home in the Father's arms. 

~Jan Frank