cover image No Longer Alone: Rising Above Childhood Sexual Abuse

No Longer Alone: Rising Above Childhood Sexual Abuse

Sallie Culbreth, . . NavPress, $9.99 (121pp) ISBN 978-1-60006-392-3

Culbreth, founder of Committed to Freedom Ministries and a sexual abuse survivor, offers evangelical Christian readers an emotionally charged resource. She shares the stories of now adult men and women who were sexually, verbally and emotionally abused by their parents, teachers or church workers as children. After each true story, the details of which are maddeningly horrific, the author offers counterpart suffering that Jesus Christ endured at the hands of men. Where individuals have been rejected, shamed, humiliated and brutalized, so was Christ. Culbreth's approach is a novel one, yet readers may finish the text feeling as though much of these victims' suffering remains “unsettled business,” since, as the author states, many of the victims haven't yet been able to move past the crimes committed against them as children. Culbreth does offer suggested self-reflection or group discussion questions to aid victims of abuse, and her final word on the value of locating supportive family, friends, clergy and other professional resources is helpful as well. (Mar.)