Abused But Not Refused

3 John 1:2 — “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

For twenty-eight years, I lived inside a storm that seemed to have no end. Abuse has a way of shrinking the world around us—narrowing our view of ourselves until we can barely recognize the person that God created.

The insults, the control, the fear… they settle over our hearts like a heavy fog. And when we are told long enough that we are nothing, we start believing it to the point where this is the only voice we hear and it is the only voice we tend to believe. It becomes hard to imagine that God could speak anything different over us.

But He does.

3 John 1:2 is not just a polite greeting; it is a declaration of Heaven’s desire for us. “Beloved…” — God starts by naming us loved, even when others tried to convince us otherwise. He wants our soul to flourish, our bodies to heal, our life to rise again. Abuse may have dimmed our hope, but it never erased His affection for us. Yes, we were wounded, but we were never worthless. We were mistreated, but we were never misplaced. We were abused, but we were not refused.

We are not refused by the God who loves us, who cares for us, who understands our pain, who sees us in the darkness when we are crying alone, when we feel crushed and totally abandoned. God cares about all of it, and he reaches down in compassion and says, my child I see you, you are not forgotten, and I love you. This is not the sum of the life I have given you, and this is not your end. You are worth so much more than what you are carrying, so much more than what you are going through. I want to restore you; I want to heal your pain and to tell you that you have worth because you are my child. Imagine yourself standing in the quiet after years of chaos. Feel the stillness on your skin—cool, safe, unfamiliar. Listen to the sound of your own breathing, steady and
growing stronger. Picture God gently lifting your chin, inviting you to finally see yourself the way He sees you: treasured, restored, whole.

Healing is not instant. Sometimes it comes in trembling steps—learning to eat well again, to rest, to breathe deeply, to believe that your body deserves care. Other times it comes in the heart—when you allow God to touch the deepest places of shame and whisper, “This is where I make all things new.”

And slowly, you realize: the version of you that almost gave up is not the version God is
leaving you with. He is rebuilding you in love, brick by brick, truth by truth. Your story is
not ending in the shadows. It is rising into light.

Prayer:
Father, thank You for seeing me when I felt invisible and for loving me when I felt unlovable. Heal every part of me that has been broken by years of abuse—my mind, my heart, my body, my sense of worth. Teach me to receive Your love and to believe what
You speak over my life. Prosper my soul, restore my health, and guide me into the fullness of who You created me to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.