Don't Shhh Me

By S.R. Manasseh

In her painful yet powerful book, author and minister S.R. Manasseh presents a transformative blueprint for healing the wounds of the past and finding inner peace. Drawing from her traumatic journey of surviving childhood abuse, she fearlessly shares her stories of ruin and restoration, guiding readers through the complexity of troublesome memories and unforgiveness.

With faith in God and understanding that His way is best, she shines a light on the profound truths found within the pages of the Bible. She offers insights and encouragement for those seeking solace and transformation. She declares that the promises of God illuminate a path toward healing and wholeness through the power of His love, forgiveness, and prayer.

Don't Shhh Me is an inspiring guide for those ready to embark on a journey of healing and restoration. Whether wrestling with painful memories or seeking to support others on their path to recovery, this book offers a compassionate and empowering roadmap to reclaiming your life and embracing a future far brighter than the past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W.H.O Ministry
• Release date: Aug 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988006312

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Don’t Shhh Me © Copyright 2023 W.H.O Ministry. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or any other electronic or mechanical methods without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and specific other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org"

"Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc."

Scripture quotations from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Published in the United States by S.R. Manasseh. All profits and proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to W.ounded H.ealer O.utreach (W.H.O) Ministry, http://www.whoministry.org.

Disclaimer: This book deals with the victimization of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. I have taken great lengths to share the subject matters compassionately and respectfully, even though the details may trouble some readers. I’m not a clinical psychiatrist, so I encourage readers needing professional help to seek someone with Christian beliefs, specialized training, and professional judgment because deliverance is achievable for those who believe.

Except for what I’ve written describing my personal experiences, this work is creative nonfiction for informational purposes only. With this, I have taken creative liberties. Even though the events are true some names and identifying details are fictional. Specific facts were altered or omitted, and I arranged some events to protect the privacy of individuals.

Although God has healed my wounded spirit, I am not the Wounded Healer. Therefore, my testimony and the content of this book are not a substitute for the Word of God. The facts of this book may not be for everyone; however, my purpose is to encourage readers to pursue reconciliation with the Almighty God, healing from past hurts, and forgiving those who have offended you. Then, when healed, strengthen your brothers and sisters.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023907726

ISBN Paperback: 979-8-9880063-0-5

ISBN Hardback: 979-8-9880063

ISBN ebook: 979-8-9880063-1-2

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jeremiah 29:11

Dedication

First, I would like to thank the Sovereign Almighty God for Redemption through Christ Jesus our Lord and Sanctification through The Holy Spirit. Second, I’m grateful and humbled by His salvation and selection of imperfect me by grace through faith. Third, I immensely appreciate God’s plan and purpose for our lives.

Perhaps our behavior, trauma, or a tragic event postponed His Divine plan, but it has not failed. Instead, I believe we are only one resolution away from a life-altering realization: affirming without doubt and trusting God’s way is best.

I thank El Shaddai for the time and lessons learned from my parents, family members, and friends who are no longer on the train of life with me. I am also grateful for the unwavering support of my caring family and friends, and I express my gratitude towards them. God has purposefully and perfectly placed us in each other’s lives. My gratitude extends beyond words to everyone who prayed for and encouraged me, especially my English teacher, friend, mentor, and prayer warrior, Ms. Laine C. Shaw, who, since ninth grade, has encouraged me to write and maintain my voice. Even today, after several decades, her support continues to inspire me.

Lastly, I thank God for empowering those who influence children, vulnerable abuse victims and victimizers to have faith in God, heal, and break free from oppression in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God.

The disciples asked Jesus, Who then could be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:25b-26

Introduction

Our memories assist us in establishing our attitudes and views of ourselves, our outlook on life, and how we interact with others. They also determine our reactions when dealing with problems and emotional experiences. But what if the memories are unforgivable and traumatic? What if the traumatic event leaves emotional scars that will not diminish with time? Suppose the detriment and impact do not die with those who caused suffering. Instead, it results in unforgiveness and affects our decisions and destiny.

Ask yourself, has tragedy compromised the happiness of your adult life? Have someone done something so atrocious to you that you refuse to forgive them? Should the hurt and abusive trauma of the painful heritage still linger? Is being a lifelong victim inevitable?

• What if I told you forgiveness is paramount for contentment, but it’s hard? So how do we get there to free ourselves of the past?

God provides an instruction manual, a roadmap, and the solution for healing. With the correct information, you no longer have to struggle with unforgiveness. Instead, a support system is in place to go from pain to purpose.

It has taken me over six years to write this book and almost a half-century to live it. Because what silenced me as a child started in my parent’s house. I was voiceless – I was powerless to forgive, trust, and live beyond my circumstances (the things that happened to me). So for most of my life, I battled with unforgiveness, trying to escape the clutches of a miserable childhood. Within the details are specific traumatic and vicious experiences I encountered in the early stages of my life. Some people who were supposed to protect me mishandled me through sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. As a result, I hid behind secrecy with rebellion, resentment, rage, and self-destructive behavior.

But hidden in years of silence is a voice of empowerment – a voice of faith through forgiveness without negative consequences. The forgiving grace of God, free from resentment, opens our hearts to receive His best. The power of His forgiveness and happiness exists within us as He ordained if only we receive it. So, by the grace of God, I was able to lay aside the burden of shame, disappointment, discouragement, and the unforgiving pain of my past to experience and receive God’s best, which is a better quality of life and a more excellent way of living it.

So many accounts like mine are shared to help victims process or work through forgiving those who may have vindictively, violently, or heinously offended them. Trusting God’s plan for forgiveness through faith and prayer changes our approach to healing, whether victim, victimizer, or enabler. Applying the message of forgiveness and faith in God transforms a wounded person’s life trajectory because rooted in Atonement are optimism and obedience. Whereby God gives clear direction, conflict resolution, and restores dignity.

Did you know God purposely uses vulnerability and transparency to minister love and liberty?

While being abused, I was vulnerable and did not have a voice. Today God has given me a voice of faith and a mission Ministry for other voiceless victims. So therefore, although I received my healing while writing this book, it was not just for me but for others also.

Unfortunately, the crisis of abuse is a terrible aspect of life that numerous individuals have either experienced in the past or are still enduring. Most people are fortunate enough not to have experienced life like others have or confronted their circumstances. As a result, they may lack an understanding of the impact of abuse, its emotional toll, or the reasons why someone who conceals or perpetrates abuse malfunctions in certain areas of life the way they do.

The legislative body in judicial courts worldwide must prioritize and protect those susceptible to being abused. But first, by explicitly establishing zero-tolerance laws without loopholes that consider sex with minors to be rape, and it’s without consent. It is a universal crime against humanity that infringes upon the rights of vulnerable human beings. It is not a fundamental religious rite. It is not the parent’s privilege; it is sexual perversion. Our vulnerable citizens are people, not property.

This book addresses the perfect will of God to rescue, renew, and reconcile His good but broken creation. He knows that people may have let us down. Therefore, He wants to uplift us. God will take the evil imposed on us by others and turn it into something influential within us that He can use for His Divine plan and purpose. So rest assured that God has not forgotten the wounded, and His love extends to them.

This book also challenges the reader to live a Christ-centered life by having faith in God. The type of faith which is capable of new levels of understanding through spiritual growth. To those who believe - God’s role is significant in our spiritual life. With it, embedded in forgiveness, is a healing process that becomes a releasing mechanism for those held hostage by memories and nightmares.

Please understand that forgiveness is the Grace of God that opens our hearts to receive His best. Although it’s freedom from guilt, it’s not freedom for the guilty. We cannot forgive ourselves and not those who offended us because the outcome of the master’s plan is every person matters and has a God-given purpose.

When we heal, we experience the power of God’s undeserved favor, unconditional love, and unspeakable joy. The gifts from God are to strengthen others like those abused in secrecy and silenced by offenders. As believers, we become instruments of faith and voices for the Kingdom of God who understand that forgiveness and saving grace are also for the offender, oppressor, and predators.

God has given me liberation through healing to share the information in this book. Information that may assist with identifying certain behaviors of abused people, signs of misconduct unnoticed by caretakers, and possible causes of those who offend. He has also given me a voice of faith to raise another level of awareness while declaring justice for juveniles. God wants the spiritually wounded to receive healing, the hurting and oppressed to receive deliverance—the people who don’t believe in what they can’t see to receive their sight in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One of God.

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

01 - Children Don’t Come with Instructions

02 - Children Do Come with Instructions

03 - Adam’s Family

04 - The Modern-day Village

05 - Children Cannot Consent

06 - Victimizing Victims

07 - Effects of Abuse

08 - You may have a reason but not a Right

09 - Don’t Shhh Me

10 - Your Future Will Be Greater Than Your Past

Meet the Author

Sources

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4

01

Children Don’t Come with Instructions

Saint Louis, Missouri, the Gateway to the West, is a major city along the Mighty Mississippi River. It’s also known for the Old Courthouse downtown, the Temple of Justice. This courthouse is the same place that heard notable litigations of Dred Scott, who sued for his and his wife’s freedom in 1846 and 1850, as well as the case of Virginia Minor, who sued for women’s right to vote in 1872. (The United States Supreme Court ruled against both civil injustices.) But unfortunately, this courthouse was also the scene of slave auctions on its front steps. Saint Louis is my birth city and the history I was born into; I was born free but soon felt enslaved by life’s troubles.

I am the oldest of five siblings from my parents’ union. One passed away before birth. Like most parents expecting the birth of their first child, mine was no different. After my arrival, they started a baby book titled Our Baby’s First Seven Years. As I go through its now-faded pages with lost pictures