I was surprised to see her at the workshop. She looked to be about 15 years old. My Religious Roadblocks workshop rarely draws teens, but she had insisted on attending.

She came up to talk to me afterwards. Her sexual abuse had begun when she was under two years old. When it was discovered, and she was placed in a "safe" environment, new perpetrators picked up where the old ones left off.

She specifically wanted to tell me how much the song I sang about victim blaming meant to her, especially the chorus and the second verse.

With a catch in her voice, she confessed to me that as she matured physically, she began to respond sexually to the abuse and experience a small degree of pleasure. Of course she felt guilty, and was haunted by the tormenting thought that it was her fault it was happening.

As I ministered to her, I was able to help her understand that, although most of the time the emotional horror shuts down a physical response, occasionally, especially if a young victim of ongoing abuse begins to mature sexually, the body responds. Why? Because God created it to respond in that manner to that type of stimulation. It doesn't make you less of a victim, and it certainly doesn't mean you wanted it, invited it, or that it was your fault.

"Dear Jesus, the Spirit of the Lord was upon You and anointed You to heal the brokenhearted, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Broken hearted and oppressed, that is so descriptive of survivors of abuse. Anoint me, Lord, with that same Spirit, that I may minister healing, wholeness, and freedom in You name, Amen."