What can wash away my sin?Nothing but the blood of Jesus;What can make me whole again?Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This hymn by Robert Lowry is brilliant. It addresses those who have committed grievous sin and those who have had grievous sin committed against them. Both are true of me. And the solution to both is the same: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That is the teaching I get at Christ Church. Jesus forgives. Jesus heals.
I was sexually abused as a kid. I’ve never had one-on-one counseling with Doug Wilson (for that issue). I came to Moscow years later. What I have had is solid, unapologetic gospel for 15+ years.
It was from Pastor Wilson that I first heard that the Bible emphatically does not teach that women are to be submissive to men in general. (I was actually surprised. That’s what I thought it taught for many years). But rather to one man (her father or husband). And for the first time I learned that no earthly authority is absolute. So if those men are abusive, get help!
Sexual abuse leaves an indelible mark. But it does not define me. It breaks mind and soul. But I am whole. I’ve been given a blessed life through Christ Jesus and His cleansing blood.
Being in the Christ Church community full of joyful, gracious believers with my wonderful husband and children has been a blessing that I cannot be thankful enough for! I am witness to the result of generational faithfulness to Christ through the whole Wilson family and many other families at Christ Church as well. And if my story doesn’t center on my sexual abuse, well, there’s a reason for that. That’s not who I am now. The reason for that? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.