Romans 8:1, 1 Peter 3:3,4, Galatians 1:15,16, 1 Timothy 1:15, Ephesians 4:24, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:19, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Deuteronomy 31:8  www.endabuse.com https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Fathers-Heart-Womans-Unconditional-ebook/dp/B07DB9WNPP

https://www.amazon.com/God-Made-All-Me-Children/dp/1942572301    TRIGGER WARNING: Some Listeners may find the content of this episode disturbing because of trauma or bad experiences in their lives.  Some stories may trigger some emotionally disturbing memories.

Well, it finally ended because my parents sat us down on December 30, 1983. It was a couple of months before I turned 14. We were told that we were moving to Texas to start another church. So that's what we thought initially. It wasn't very long after that, on our way out to Texas, that the truth came out.  Being the oldest, I'm the one who kind of figured it out of course. Because of the abuse that I had been going through for the last several years, I had matured way faster than I probably should have. I was more attuned to even looking for things because I was now starting to question things on my own. And so my dad and my mom, who had been married my whole life. There was also another couple in our church that had been married for however long and they had been in our church a couple of years. She was an elementary teacher in our school. He was my volleyball and softball coach and eighth-grade teacher.  They were married and they divorced at the same time, my parents divorced. And I was very close to these people and I would stay with them when my parents would travel. I was devastated. You know, we were moving and I wanted to live with them and stay with my friends. And of course, that was not an option. But what I found out quickly on the way to Texas was that they had all been swapping partners. And so my dad and mom got divorced, and he married the woman and my mom married her husband.  So, my stepmom and my stepdad had been married to each other. And so it was like, okay, hold on. Wait, what? Okay, I can't wear shirts with writing on them or swim with boys, but I've got stuff going on in my house that nobody knows about, and I'm keeping the secret that no one knows about and now you're getting divorced! That’s the Big " Word and was just, overwhelming. And, of course, I never was allowed to question anything. But you know, it was always, “because I said so”, was the answer to any question that was uncomfortable. And so it was very, very difficult for me because I could tell that these were not going to be easy conversations. So basically I just said to my dad, I really don't think that mom is going to be happy with how nice you're being to her, referring to this other woman. And that's when he said to me, Well, your mom is not going to care because she ran off with Mr. so and so. And I immediately knew that she must have found out about what was happening with my dad because that's what he told me would happen if she found out so now my biggest fear has come to light. He allowed me to believe that. He really allowed me to feel like this was my fault. So my mom left him and he's now the victim too. This woman who he's now bringing in, is coming in to save the day because now we don't have a mom. And so she's coming in to save the day and at 14, I didn't need anybody to save the day, I just needed some stability, and I just wanted to be with my dad.