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WestBow Press - Nancy Crowther-Brandenburg

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81 pages

English

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Influenced by Pulitzer Prize Winner Mary Oliver and inspired by the metaphors in Scripture and Lundy Bancroft's "Why Does He Do That?", this collection of poetry offers hope to the abused.
In His Grip is a testimony to the author’s biblical counseling, written in poetry and prose. This book takes you on a literary journey that begins with the lessons Nancy learned in childhood that would inevitably make her strong enough to survive an abusive 37 year marriage and begin the process of healing once she escaped.

Sujets

Religion

Christianisme

Vie de famille

Relations familiales

Inspirational

Themes

Subjects

Religious

Poetry

Informations

Publié par	WestBow Press
Date de parution	16 février 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781664291775
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

In His Grip
My Story of God’s Rescue and Redemption
NANCY CROWTHER-BRANDENBURG

Copyright © 2023 Nancy Crowther-Brandenburg.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9176-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9177-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023902298

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/15/2023

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
Redeemed
In His Grip
New Life
My Season of Waiting
Scriptures Lense
Who Am I?
Not Alone
Intro to poems for my children:
Sons
The Key to Her Heart
Imprint
Shame
Sadness and Healing
Sadness
Healing
Goodness
God’s Pleasure
Purity
Who Alone Knows?
Grief
No Fear
My Secret Place
On My Walk
Pondering
Rest
We Are His
Unity
Flourishing
Unchanging and Renewal
Unchanging
Renewal
Time
No Place to Go
An Ordinary Woman
Stay the Course
Eternity
Joy in Creation
Clouds
The Stream
Winter
Waiting
Time at the Lake
Prayer
Tears
Choose Life
Just Breathe
The Ripples in the Stream
Darkness to Light
My Battle
Memories
Whole…Again
Epilogue
Bibliography/Endnotes
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As you will see from my past five years of work through my poems, God provided a person to walk with me through my story of many hard years and that work continues. Scripture was shared with me in a way I had never understood before and the person of Jesus Christ was revealed to me. I’ve realized that I do have a personal relationship with our loving Savior.
I offer many thanks to the churches where I and my family worshiped during these past few years: Cornerstone OPC of Ambler, PA, Glenside New Life, Calvary OPC, Glenside, PA and Bridge Community Church of Glenside, PA. I want to thank their pastors, elders, deacons, and friends all who prayed for and supported me and my sons and daughter through these last five years.
My love goes out to my sons and daughter, Justin, Jonathan, Jeremy, Jared and Kirsten and my daughter-in laws, Jenifer, Alex and Kourtney as well as my son-in-law Carl, for prayers, working together for my rescue in 2016, supporting me, even providing a place for me to live throughout 2016 and 2017. A special thanks to my youngest son, Jared who I have lived with the past three years, and he has persevered with me through some hard, emotion filled days. Another special thanks goes to my oldest son, Justin, who agreed to read and edit my work here, which I am sure was difficult for him at times.
Special love and appreciation to my sons and daughter for the sadness I feel about how our life together looked. Many times, I am sure you have asked God why our lives had to look like this but know that as hard as this was, God was with us, holding our hand and delivering us from an unjust, cruel man as He promised. Although his imprint will remain to some degree through our lives, the work we do will help soften it.
My love and appreciation goes out to family and friends who God brought back to us after many years of being cut off, as well as some new friends God brought to us in recent years. Many thanks for your prayers and support through these last five years. In counseling I learned to trust this safe inner circle, many of whom remain close. My brother, Bill and his wife Lori, stepsisters: Chiyo, Diohn, Fawn, my cousin Sue; close friends: Susan, Steve, Janet, Deb, Erin and John. A very special thanks and remembrance goes to my stepmother, Mef for her love and prayers over these last years after we reconnected. Jesus called her home July 17, 2022. Her gentle, loving spirit is sorely missed.
Extending loving thoughts to any women and their children who have suffered abuse at the hands of the person called to love them. I will pray for women in the healing process and courage for others to bring their story to light.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with
the Lord there is steadfast love, and
with him is plentiful redemption
Psalm 130:7
FOREWORD
In this compilation of poems and prose Nancy Brandenburg chronicles her journey through the horrors of abuse as she desperately clings to the right hand of her Father in Heaven. Her writing leads the reader through her process of breaking free from lies, working to build a new life, and ultimately finding the permission and opportunity to flourish as God‘s child. She eloquently captures the simple yet profound truth that Jesus walks with his people through the incomprehensible and insurmountable. Nancy’s story reminds us that because God does not forsake his people, He never ceases to be at work behind the darkness. Escape is possible. Redemption is possible. Flourishing is possible.
Todd Stryd, MDiv. PsyD
PREFACE
This is the story of a woman and her children. It is a story of love and redemption from abuse and humiliation. There is fear, sadness and grief written here but you will see God’s protection and love as he redeems hearts and minds for His own glory. I am this woman and the children, my four sons and daughter. You will see how God prepared me for my work for His kingdom through hard things in my childhood. He walked along side me, holding my right hand, preserving my children and I body and soul.
My story is written in a mixture of poetry and prose. Through biblical counseling and processing my past, poetry became my outlet to speak about hard things. So, each poem has its own story in God’s promise of redemption.
My goal in writing this is to demonstrate how an abuser’s power and control damages the hearts and minds of those he is called to love. Also, often this happens in secret, for many years before being brought to light. You will see how God opened scripture to me as He worked for my rescue. As I started to see my life through the lens of scripture, I began processing years of abuse through much painful, hard work. God gave me a person and place to counsel me in my walk to freedom, and for that I am very thankful.
My prayer for you, as you read, is to help you see that this could be any woman, your neighbor, sister, church member, coworker, anyone you pass in the street because it is done in secret. I do not mean for the reader to be suspicious of everyone but to be ready to offer help and reach out. A woman may only need one safe person to confide in to bring her abuse to light. I will pray for the courage of many to see and help so, one woman at a time can be rescued from their oppressor.
If you are a pastor or elder, reading this and a woman comes to you, please believe her. Know that the shame she feels to seek help is now less than the fear of staying in her abusive situation. In a sermon in April 2016, Dr. Carl Trueman said, “In a church of 100 people there is at least one wife being abused by their husband.” 1 Some people will ask “why did you stay” or “you supported him.” These are common misunderstandings of oppression and abuse. I wanted to believe the man’s public persona because the reality of what happened in the privacy of our home was too hard to accept, to shameful to admit. I will refer to him as “the man” because he was neither a husband nor father as God intended.
For purposes of my story, I will be referring to women because the majority of abuse is men towards women. Lundy Bancroft, in his book “Why Does He Do That” states, “Two to four million women are assaulted by their partner every year in the U.S. That is excluding verbal and mental abuse. Domestic abuse is the number one cause of injury to women.” 2 Abuse is about power, he says and is demonstrated verbally, psychologically, physically, and sexually, even financially. An alarming part of these statistics is that only about 30% of those with injuries seek medical help. Women do not want to bring abuse to light. They want to stay hidden. I have spoken to several women who, like me never went to the police. Women who did reach out to their churches, as I did in 1991 but did not receive the help they desperately needed. Women who cannot speak of their abuse, trying to leave it in the past. God has given me the strength to tell my story to make it real for people who doubt or a woman still living in her oppression. My work here also, helps me put my painful memories to rest and softens my emotional scars.
If this story is yours, I will pray for you to seek help. In his sermon, “Beauty and the Beast” July 10, 2016, Dr.Liam Goligher, Senior Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelp