Perhaps you’ve been struggling for years with feelings that you can’t understand or explain. Here are some of the ways sexual abuse affects a child, which can follow into adulthood. Maybe you’ll see some of yourself in the list below: Self-blame: When children experience trauma, their inherent egocentrism leads them to believe that they...

Sexual abuse has a broader definition than we may assume. There are four types of sexual abuse: verbal, visual, physical and psychological. Verbal sexual abuse includes sexual threats, sexual comments about your body, lewd or suggestive comments and inappropriate sexual conversations with children. Visual sexual abuse includes exposure to pornographic,...

Rough estimates put one in three girls and one in six boys in the US at risk for being sexually abused. But exact figures are hard to assess because most children delay reporting their abuse until later in adulthood or never report it at all. Many of the women I’ve led through healing were not believed when they did report it, or worse, they were...

They were good people. They had made it known that divorce was not an option for them. Yet here they were, going their separate ways and leaving a path of confusion and chaos behind them. There was no love affair to blame, no abuse that had been hidden. Just a slow erosion, a drifting apart, a building of resentments until one felt there was nothing...

What could be more romantic than receiving a love letter? A good old fashioned, hand-written love letter is still one of the best Valentines around, but don't just save it for February. A love letter is a powerful expression any day of the year. You don't have to be Shakespeare to write the perfect love letter. All you need to know is how you...

Okay, that's a really corny title, but I've been thinking for a while about the verse in Song of Solomon which says, "Do not awaken love until it is ready." I think some of us have let our love be awakened too early, or too abruptly, and so it never really woke at all. Several routes to this disastrous awakening exist. The first is obvious:...

February is known for cold weather, presidents' birthdays and Cupid's delight. As Valentine's Day approaches, hearts flutter, lovers sigh and Charlie Brown hopes that little red-haired girl will like the card he's been gathering up the courage to give her. Love, sex and amorous relationships have dominated the news over the past year.  Not every...