Spiritual Sunday

full article here-
Name Withheld, “A Longing for Peace,” Ensign, Jul 2009, 52–57

“What role has the Atonement played in all of this?” The question came as I sat waiting for my husband in the foyer of the stake offices. I was visiting with the second counselor in the stake presidency, and I shared with him some of the events that had taken place in my life. I grew up in an abusive atmosphere. Pornography was a common vice among the men in our home, and its effects were far-reaching. My father was involved in homosexual activities. He was also physically and emotionally abusive, particularly to my mother, while my brother was sexually abusive to my sisters and me. I lived in constant fear and turmoil during my childhood years. Although the situation changed dramatically with my parents’ divorce when I was 12 years old, I spent the bulk of my teenage years trying to deal with a haunting sense of worthlessness.

LDS Family Services offers counseling and other resources to people who have been affected by abuse in any way. If you feel some of your actions toward family members have been questionable, help is also available for you. For more information, contact the LDS Family Services office in your area or visit www.ldsfamilyservices.org.

Control the Change for Good in Your Life
“The wicked choice of others cannot completely destroy your agency unless you permit it. Their acts may cause pain, anguish, even physical harm, but they cannot destroy your eternal possibilities in this brief but crucial life on earth. You must understand that you are free to determine to overcome the harmful results of abuse. Your attitude can control the change for good in your life. It allows you to have the help the Lord intends you to receive. No one can take away your ultimate opportunities when you understand and live eternal law. The laws of your Heavenly Father and the Atonement of the Lord have made it possible that you will not be robbed of the opportunities which come to the children of God.”

Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Healing the Tragic Scars of Abuse,” Ensign, May 1992, 31–32.