"I enabled spiritual abuse by staying and serving in that toxic church"
How it sounds in your head: I saw the control, the manipulation, the way they weaponized Scripture. But I kept teaching Sunday school, kept smiling, kept giving. My presence gave them credibility. Good people stayed because people like me stayed. I propped up an abusive system. I helped them hurt people.
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
-- Romans 8:28Source: False responsibility for system's evil, enemy strategy of making survivor guilty for abuser's choices, religious shame for not being strong enough to leave sooner
Her participation genuinely did lend credibility to the system. People genuinely did stay partly because 'good people' like her were there. Her influence was real, and it was used by abusive leaders.
Lot lived in Sodom for YEARS, surrounded by wickedness, and 2 Peter 2:7-8 says he was a 'RIGHTEOUS man' who was 'oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked' and 'tormented his righteous soul.' He lived there, but God called him RIGHTEOUS, not complicit. His presence didn't enable Sodom—it GRIEVED him.
I REFUSE the lie that my presence enabled abuse. IT IS WRITTEN: all things work together for GOOD to those who love God. The enemy meant my presence for evil—to legitimize the system. God meant it for GOOD—to protect the wounded who needed a safe person. IT IS WRITTEN: Lot lived in Sodom for years and God called him RIGHTEOUS, not complicit. Every Sunday school child I loved, every hurting soul I comforted, every quiet act of real ministry—that was LIGHT, not enabling. I was an ARK in the flood. I receive BARAK blessing—my presence in darkness was BLESSED because I carried light, and God will redeem every year for His glory and others' good.
The Father is whispering: 'Precious daughter, you think you propped up that system? You were MY AGENT inside it—the safe person, the soft place, the one who loved when leaders manipulated. You didn't enable abuse; you ABSORBED it so others wouldn't have to. You're a HERO, not an accomplice.' He's running toward you with the robe marked 'PROTECTOR.'