The ultimate mind games are the ones abusers use with their victims.  Convincing the victim they are powerless, without options, and totally under the power of the abuser.  Not hard to do to a small child.  Children and adults are groomed to accept abuse.  As long as they believe they are powerless, nothing changes.

I valiantly held on to the hope that something would change…as one year led to another I started to loose that thread of hope.  My life completely unraveled when I was in my 30’s.  I started fighting back around 35.  When I was 44 I was diagnosed with cancer, caught in the early stages, I beat it.  Couple of years later I finally entered counseling.  My thread of hope that I clung to had more threads added.  My counselor did not change my abuse, my abusers, or my past.  My counselor taught me how to change.  He was a teacher.  I was a pupil willing to learn that what I learned as a child was lies.  I am powerful.  I do not have to tolerate abuse.  I do not have to love my abuser.  Bit by bit I worked to change my life.  One of the key aspects for me was my belief and hope in Jesus Christ.  I believe in hope.  It is the pin prick of light in the darkest of holes that tells me, there is more to life than being a victim.