One in two women and one in four men have encountered sexual trauma. The enemy’s attempts to shred humanity through sexuality is pervasive, but those of us who have encountered sexual assault are not hopeless.

Author and teacher, Dr. Dan Allender, guides us through this hope-filled terrain utilizing decades of experience and research in the field of sexual trauma. He unpacks answers to questions like:

Why is shame linked to sexuality, and why is contempt often linked to shame?

Why and how do repressed memories resurface?

How can we engage painful past memories without pushing “eject” on our lives?

How can we respond in healthy ways to triggers?

​Additionally, we explore some of Dan’s gospel story out of a life of drug dealing and elicit behavior (as a response to his own pain), and invite him to kindly poke fun at Matt throughout the entire episode.

Highlights: 
“The return on investment for the kingdom of darkness is profound in regard to abuse. [It] disintegrates some level of our faith, our ability to trust, our ability to dream and hope, and certainly our ability to give delight and pleasure to one another.” –Dan Allender

“I think contempt is our way to manage shame with a level of control that annihilates ourselves so we don’t feel, so we don’t want, so we don’t risk. Contempt is really just another form of self-hatred that allows us to lessen the experience of shame.” –Dan Allender

​”When we use truth to deny truth … we are doing what evil does when it quotes Scripture.” –Dan Allender

“​I’ve seen it literally thousands of times: People who enter the truth and allow their hearts to receive kindness … that’s the context for the Spirit of God to bring about remarkable change.” –Dan Allender

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Do the Next Thing:
Read his book Healing the Wounded Heart or God Loves Sex
Check out The Allender Center
Listen to their podcast
That HIMH Podcast group? Check it out here

Question of the Week for Next Week:
What was your first car and what does it tell us about your personality?