Hi. I’m P.

At the age of 3, we moved to a new neighborhood that seemed nice and quiet. It had mostly elderly people, including a seemingly nice man who lived next door. Shortly after we moved in, the neighbor’s wife died. My family took it on themselves to keep him company.

I would be sent over to his house with a pie or cookies or something that my mother had baked. Everyone thought he was just the sweetest man, except me. By the age of 5, he had started molesting me on a regular basis. My parents both worked full time so I went over to his house after school to "keep him company" until my parents came home. I did enjoy the company because of my parents being gone so much, he picked up where they weren’t meeting my needs but he took it one step further -- to meet his own perverted needs.

This continued until I was 12 years old. Then, in a strange turn of events, he forgot who else was in his house and tried to molest my foster sister. She came out of a home like this, so she ran right to my parents and told them what had happened. I had tried to tell my parents, but they never believed me. This time, they did.

This was something that was not talked about, especially in the Christian community. My parent’s solution to the problem was to deny that it happened. They talked to me to find out what happened and then that was it. I grew up thinking it was all my fault! Needless to say, I’ve been suffering with depression and it’s effects for a very long time. I am now 31 and am just now starting to understand how all this has affected me. I am also now dealing with a chronic pain illness called "Fibromyalgia," which I have also had all my life.

I know the Lord can help and I know now that I have found the Christian counselor who can best help me, I am on my way to recovery. The Christian community will like to tell you that depression is a sin and that it’s always your fault. If there is a sin problem, we can deal with it, but the effects of the depression or bitterness or whatever it was, will last for a long time.