When “I Love You” Smacks You Across The Face: 27 Days of Devotions For Survivors Of Abuse

By A.D. KIMBLE

A.D. Kimble lived the Christian fairy tale romance. She met, fell in love with, and married her Prince Charming, a strong and charismatic Christian man who shared her values—devotion to God and the church.
But soon after the marriage, the fairy tale turned to horror as her Prince revealed his true nature—controlling, narcissistic, and emotionally abusive. At first, she thought it was her fault and tried to change herself to make him happy. Isn’t that what a good Christian wife is supposed to do? But she soon realized that, like the enemy, her husband manipulated Christian values to his own selfish ends and whatever she did would never be enough. Much to her surprise and mortification, this strong Christian woman found herself living in the misery and fear of a full-blown abusive relationship.
With the grace of God and the inspiration of scripture, A.D.,Kimble escaped the prison of abuse. Now she is ready to come forward to help others. In a series of devotions, When “I Love You” Smacks You Across the Face: Twenty-Seven Devotions for Survivors of Abuse shares the lessons the author learned including scripture verses and prayers that gave her the strength to re-build her relationship with God and become a healthier Christian woman. This is not her complete story. Rather, it is a series of daily meditations on what it means to be abused, how to get out of an abusive relationship, and how to break the cycle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.D. KIMBLE
• Release date: Mar 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463843413

Book preview

When I Love You Smacks You Across the Face

27 Days of Devotions for Survivors of Abuse

A.D. Kimble

Copyright 2011 by A.D. Kimble

All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition

Contents

Day 1: Dealing with Misconceptions

Day 2: The Danger of Not Knowing You

Day 3: Let’s Do An Exercise

Day 4: Take Notes

Day 5: Pleasing God

Day 6: I Trusted Him to Lead Me; He Seemed So Strong

Day 7: Recognize the Power and Goodness in You

Day 8: Character of a Disobedient Spirit

Day 9: I Don’t Trust Myself Anymore. Can I Still Make Good Decisions?

Day 10: You Can Move Forward and Still Forgive

Day 11: Get Counsel, but the Ultimate Counselor is God

Day 12: It’s Not Everybody’s Business

Day 13: Stop Watching Certain Movies

Day 14: You Don’t Have to Re-live Your Abuse

Day 15: God is Love

Day 16: It’s Okay to Speak Up

Day 17: Messy Emotions: Free But Vulnerable

Day 18: Be the Victor, not the Victim

Day 19: OCD – the Overwhelming Controlling Demon

Day 20: The Deceiving Arch Manipulator

Day 21: Walking on Egg Shells

Day 22: The Danger of The Benefit of the Doubt

Day 23: The Danger of Isolation

Day 24: Just When You Think It’s Over, It Gets Ugly

Day 25: Is That Abuse? Listen to Your Heart

Day 26: Don’t Forget the Background Check

Day 27: Getting Back to Basics: Turn Your Pity Party Into a Pamper Party!

Conclusion

Permissions

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The Bible. King James Version. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

The Bible. Common English Version. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

The Bible. English Standard Version. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

The Bible. New International Version. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

The Bible. Amplified. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

The Bible. Contemporary English Version. Life Church.,

version 8.8.4, RED 1.9.2, Life Church/You Version, 2008-2016.

Unless otherswise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Bible King James Version. Life Church. You Version, copyright 2008-2016.

What does abuse look like? This may seem like a silly question to some people. On the surface the answer seems obvious. The poster image for abuse are the women (and men) with the black eyes or bloody lips, the bruises on their arms, those who endure public tirades from their partners. However, abuse is deeper than what you can see or hear. And I’m not just talking about emotional abuse. Abuse is more than hurt emotions, sexual mistreatment, or battery. Abuse not only goes down to the bone, it goes down to the soul. Abuse may hurt the body and the mind, but it kills the soul, and we have to fight it at all levels. If we hope to recover from the evil of abuse—and I am here to testify that we can—then we have to heal ourselves in body, mind, and soul.

For the purposes of this testament, I’ll leave the body and mind to the professionals. In this day book, I focus on the healing of the soul by offering daily meditations on abuse and scripture.

Day 1

Dealing with Misconceptions

Let’s address a common misconception right from the start—that women and men who are abused are simply weak people who can’t stand up for themselves. The judgment is often leveled in this way: Who in their right mind would become involved with a person who has abusive tendencies? The reality is that abused women and men come from all walks of life—rich and poor, white-collar and blue-collar, highly educated and less educated, professional workers and tradespeople, CEOs and line workers—you name it. Anyone can suffer from an abusive partner.

Furthermore, despite all the online checklists—the ten signs of a potential abuser and so forth—when it comes to love, people really can be blinded by the excitement of romance. Besides, abusers are generally very charming and clever people—at least at first. These individuals keep their controlling and abusive behaviors under wraps, but ultimately they are deceptive and manipulative. When these behaviors surface