Bearing Witness to Your Story

To live fully as the women God has created us to be means stepping out of the shadows of shame and into His light, facing and tenderly reconciling (by His grace) the painful chapters of our lives. This includes the shame and sorrow of relationships where we were diminished, silenced, or left unseen through covert or overt abuse.

A relationship marked by psychological and emotional abuse (including manipulation) can quietly erode our sense of personhood. It diminishes how we show up for ourselves and in the world. The impact can be debilitating, even when, to others, we appear present and engaged.

One of the most essential — and hardest — acts of healing after such a relationship is learning to stand as your own witness. Not to convince, not to justify, not to be believed by someone else (even though that is helpful and has its place) — but to finally say to yourself, “I saw it. I lived it. It happened. And that is enough — I am my own credible witness.” This is the heart of reclaiming the truth, honoring your experience, and trusting yourself once again.
If you’ve lived through years of being unseen, unheard, or subtly erased, that internal witnessing becomes sacred work. It’s the rebuilding of self-trust in the light of God's truth. You’re no longer outsourcing your reality — you’re reclaiming agency and the right to hold and name your experience as your own. That’s the quiet revolution: when your inner voice, once forced to quiver, begins to speak with truth and authority again, even if no one else is in the room.

That internal validation becomes foundational for external expression. Once you’ve rebuilt that relationship with yourself, your outer life can begin to take shape around it. The spaces you inhabit, the relationships you choose, the tone of your work — they all begin to align with the self you’ve started to privately acknowledge and affirm.

There’s a gentle but mighty dignity in this.
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And you are worth it! You are meant to shine, beautiful lady! (Matthew 5:14-16)

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Author: Dr. Dawn-Marie