Demanding submission that is not freely given is not leadership… it is domination and control. You know what I’m talking about if you have ever been coerced, manipulated, intimidated or forced into going along with something you knew was wrong, or even you weren’t sure about but didn’t dare question because they are your “leaders.”

Sorry, but spiritual abuse is still abuse, and just as damaging to people. Makes me sick. It’s like some little kid got to be in charge, and is afraid people will not do what they say, so they have to force the other children to do what they say at all costs. If they won’t follow they’ll ban them, ridicule them, mock them, talk about them, or shame them until they conform. That isn’t “leadership”… that is a bully.

If I hadn’t been through it, I’d still be walking along, lalalalala…. but I’ve been seriously damaged by spiritual abuse. So damaged that I can’t walk into my old church without serious emotional backlash. Sure, the abuser is gone, but there are still the lingering memories and the ongoing hurt.

Definitely time to move forward with Jesus and leave that junk behind.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to walk through those doors without hurting, but in the meantime I’ll concentrate on healing by leaving it in the past and not dredging it all up by visiting.  I have to go one more time to watch my girls dance, and then I don’t plan on even visiting again unless it is a funeral or a wedding.