Please be sure that you can acknowledge that the people who hurt survivors were their enemies. It’s important for survivors to know that you understand that the abuse was never the child’s fault. And anyone who abuses a child is that child’s enemy.

In the Bible, David was a person who had a lot of enemies of various types. Through his trials he learned this: “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so I shall be saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18:3)

I would never say that people can only be helped through formal religious practice, because God has all kinds of ways to reach people. I will say, though, that those of us who call ourselves Christians must learn to focus more and more on God in every situation and through every challenge.

As a supporter of survivors, you can gently encourage people to look to the Lord. Never minimize what they have gone through, but help them see that there is hope for them.

Of course there’s always the question of why God allows people to hurt others. I don’t have a complete answer but I think it has to do with choices. In order for humans to be created in God’s image, we have to be free to choose. Some people make bad choices; sooner or later, they will face the consequences for those choices. We are free to choose God’s way, and God is constantly choosing to transform the harm that was done to us.