The summer I was raped I went home from school feeling empty, worthless and unlovable. I didn't understand what had happened to me or what to do about it. I didn't talk about it, just lived in a depressed cloud trying to survive. My sister approached me one day and said she felt like she should give me a book. She handed me a copy of Return to Love by Anita Stansfield. This book was the first step in me gaining my life back.
In this love story the ex-boyfriend saves his former college girlfriend from her abusive husband. It was the first time EVER I read that rape can happen from someone you know, let alone a spouse. It was while reading this that I had the thought "If this can happen in marriage ... in can happen in dating ... HE RAPED ME!" Until that section of the book I had no definition for what had happened to me. I had always believed rape happened in dark alleys by deranged strangers. Not by people you trusted.
The story is a little dark but not overly detailed. It did not trigger me but did provide, I believe, some realities of being in a relationship with an abusive partner and the consequences that can follow. I love good clean romance stories, and I particularly liked this one as she fought to learn to trust and love again. I know my sister was divinely inspired to share the book with me and I am eternally grateful to her and Heavenly Father for knowing what I needed.
I remember reading this book too. It quoted the Bible where the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Symbolism brings power too.
ReplyDeleteWhat was it about the story of Jericho that impacted you? I read through it and didn't understand the connection. Thank you for your comment! Did you read the other books in her series? I never did but now really want to.
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