Prayer For Sexually Abused
Jesus,
I lift up _______________. I pray You would usher them toward healing, calming their nerves as they consider uncovering the pain from the past.
Be so near ___________________ in their storytelling process. Help ______________ to know that an untold story never heals, that stuffing the pain only hurts them and others. Please bring amazing people into _______________'s life who also long to see them set free. Please give ____________ guts and bravery to share with those safe people.
Give ______________ a holy longing to be set free from the past and courage to seek healing. While it is true that sexual violation once marked and marred _________________, it is truer still that You will take this devastation and make a resilient, beautiful life from the ashes of back then. Instead of being marked, show ______________ that they are spotless, unmarked, whole.
Do some deep heart healing in terms of worth. Show ______________ that they are not a mistake on this earth, that You have a plan for them.
Thank You that You can handle ________________'s questions, anger, and frustration. Help ___________ voice that anger, give it wind.
While Satan wanted to destroy and de-story _______________, he will not have victory any longer in ______________'s life. Silence those demeaning thoughts that tear at _______________'s value. Bring deep grace if ______________ blames themselves for the sexual abuse. Help ________________ internalize that what happened wasn't asked for, wasn't wanted. Set _____________ free from feeling dirty.
And would You please heal _____________'s sexual identity? Bring health to ______________'s perception of sex. If it be Your will, bring a patient spouse who will walk through _____________'s sexual abuse in a healthy manner. And if ___________ gets stuck in this area, please provide financially for a counselor who can bring ___________ farther along the journey.
Help ______________ to forgive the people who sexually abused them. Not to let them off the hook at all, but so they can be set free from being tied to them through anger and bitterness. Give ____________ the gumption needed to make a choice today that the perpetrator's heinous act no longer needs to define them.
So much of ____________'s pain in this life can be traced back to the sexual abuse that happened. But I pray that the rest of ____________'s life is beautifully marked by a new resolve to be healthy and become an agent of empathy in this sex-sick world. May _____________ become a conduit of change for other sexual abuse victims. May ______________ boldly share their story in the light, so others can identify and find hope.
Wash away any shame that _____________ still feels. Help family members and friends embrace ______________ instead of judge. Bring _____________ into a healing community of authenticity.
Bring laughter back into _____________'s life. Bring joy. Bring hope. Bring peace. Bring life. Bless ____________'s family in abundant ways. Come near.
Amen.
God our rock and our strength on whom we lean,
help us to create an atmosphere of trust
which allows the unspeakable to be said.
Help us to live with our painful memories.
May we support each other and be safe places for each other.
Through Christ, our Lord.
Lord, we are so sorry
for what some of us did to your children:
treated them so cruelly,
especially in their hour of need.
We have left them with a lifelong suffering.
This was not your plan for them or us.
Please help us to help them.
Guide us, Lord, Amen.
God of endless love, ever caring, ever strong, always present, always just: You gave your only Son to save us by his blood on the cross. Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace, join to your own suffering the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit by those who betrayed the trust placed in them. Hear the cries of our brothers and sisters who have been gravely harmed, and the cries of those who love them. Soothe their restless hearts with hope, steady their shaken spirits with faith. Grant them justice for their cause, enlightened by your truth. Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts, heal your people's wounds and transform brokenness into wholeness. Grant us the courage and wisdom, humility and grace, to act with justice. Breathe wisdom into our prayers and labors. Grant that all harmed by abuse may find peace in justice. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Loving God, I know that you hold me in the palm of your hand.
I know it is so.
But why, O Lord, why?
I rage at this sin against me, at this defilement of my body,
this assault on my peace of mind.
I mourn my lost serenity, security, confidence;
I mourn the loss of my ease and open nature.
I hate what this assault has done to me.
I feel that my body and soul may never be the same.
What has been forced upon me may not be forgotten.
But send your healing upon me like cool rain.
Soothe my spirit with the balm of your tender love.
Help me to feel secure again, as safe as ever within the shelter
of the Lord.
Let my anger not turn inward to self-loathing,
but outward for action and purpose: to help others like me,
to bring hope to those whose faith is not so strong.
Help me, with your grace,
to move beyond victim, to call myself survivor instead.
May you forgive this man's offence against me,
and grant me the peace and serenity
of a mind and body made whole again.
Amen.