Several years ago I had a chance to go visit the Chicago Art Museum. What a place! I could just sense that there were some amazing treasures there. My wife being an art major knew all about the paintings and the artists. Most the artwork I saw was difficult at best for me to interpret. We walked around for a while and I was trying to hang in there the best I could but let’s face it I was done. Before we left however we went downstairs to the medieval exhibit. Now, we’re talking! Swords, spears, ball and chains, all kinds of weapons. And then we come upon the armor the warriors would wear when they went into battle. The signs said that a suit of armor could weigh 130lbs. Now I only weigh about 145 so that is like carrying me around. Seriously. Could you imagine? Of course they wore these suits when they went into battle to keep the enemy from injuring them. As I was looking at that armor it struck me, many people are still wearing armor today. Now, it may not be armor on the outside but emotional armor to protect us on the inside. Especially for people that have been wounded by someone close.

Most statistics estimate that 1 out of 4 women have been sexually abuse as children and 1 in 7 men. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. Think of 4 women that you know or 7 men that you know one of them has been sexually abused as children. Wow! If you add in physical, emotional, and neglect the numbers go even higher. Once someone has experienced this kind of trauma in many cases by someone they know the result is emotional armor. The victim of abuse goes into survival mode and self-protecting behavior which can come out in a variety of ways. Mistrust, distance, depression, anger, fear, addiction, promiscuity or even in some cases become and abuser. This keeps everyone at a distance or least not allowing anyone to hurt us again.

How do we take off the armor? Find a community of people that can relate to your experiences and open up. We have all heard we are only as sick as our secrets. It’s time to reveal the secrets and let the pain out. As we walk this journey out among those we can trust we will learn how to forgive those that hurt us. With the help of God and others we can forgive those that have hurt us but first we need to experience forgiveness from God which will enable us to forgive others. We will also learn to forgive ourselves for the things we have done. Forgiveness is the prescription for the broken hearted.