How to Help a Friend in an Abusive Relationship: What You Need to Know About Domestic Violence (Hope for the Hurting, #3)

"After years of visits to emergency rooms, reconstructive surgeries, dislocated shoulders, and more black eyes than I can remember, I finally filed felony assault charges against my husband only to drop them when he agreed to pastoral counseling. But during the counseling session, the pastor continually avoided the issue of spousal abuse so evident within my marriage. Instead, he seemed to focus on what my role was as a wife. He told me to submit to my husband and try not to 'set him off.' The pastor also indicated I was expecting too much of my husband. Yet in all our counseling sessions, the pastor never told my husband about his biblical responsibility to love and care for me, his wife. And not once did the pastor ever reprimand my husband for his violence, ask him to step down from his leadership position, or refer him to a batterer's program. I left those counseling sessions feeling empty, believing God did not care for me at all...[Removing an eye patch which revealed a badly swollen eye and bruised face she asked], 'I truly hate him for hurting me like this, but what if I really do burn in hell for breaking up my marriage? And I ask you, could hell be any worse than having to live like this?'"
Such first-hand stories of abuse are hard to comprehend, yet are more common than most people realize. Domestic violence kills more than four and a half million women every year in America. It continues to be the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15-44 in the U.S. And a national crime survey has labeled the American home at night the most dangerous place to be and the most likely setting for homicide to occur.
"How to Help a Friend in an Abusive Relationship" is not just another tedious psychological study about relationship violence. While readers will find factual information on domestic violence, they will also discover more than forty insightful, practical ways to save lives. In addition, an entire chapter is devoted to providing biblical answers to this perplexing plague destroying families. Will you be a friend to an abused woman? If so, this book is for you.

Donna has walked with Jesus for more than four decades, through the highs and lows of life. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biblical Ministries and has earned numerous certificates in Christian Counseling and Crisis Intervention. Over the years, she has had the privilege of serving Christ as a volunteer Assistant Chaplain for the San Diego Family Justice Center; as Founder and Director of House of Compassion Ministries; as Church Administrator; as Women's prayer group leader and Bible teacher; and as a mother, grandmother, and author.