"It doesn't matter."

I don't think this is what you really mean. I think what you REALLY mean to say is, "It does matter, but there's no hope that things will improve, so I'll try to pretend that it's no big deal. I don't know what else to do." I hear several messages in this: hopelessness, discouragement, defeat, a feeling of being abandoned and rejected and unloved and invisible. All in all, you believe YOU don't matter 'cause that's the message you're taking in.

Some of you may even feel guilty 'cause you see the time and effort and money and work that other people are giving up trying to help you. You just want everybody to stop all the fuss and maybe everything will just go away. Dream on. It doesn't work that way.

This is so unfair, I know, but when you were attacked or molested, a load of HARD WORK was dumped in your lap. There are numerous issues to be confronted and handled. At times this will seem overwhelming. But - listen to me - YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST PERSON TO BE REQUIRED TO OVERCOME THESE PROBLEMS! Countless others have gone down this road before you and have conquered "the mountain." Some of them will even say - It shouldn't have happened - it was horrible - but I have become stronger as a result of these struggles.

You will have major victories as well as heartbreaking set-backs. It will be "three steps forward, two steps back." Ask any Olympic gold-medalist if their journey was smooth and always filled with success. I seriously doubt it. But IT IS WORTH ALL THE ENDLESS EFFORT. You are making progress - you are moving forward. A better day will finally come - a day when you can truly feel a smile inside - once a day. Then you'll feel that smile twice a day. Treasure those moments, however rare they are. Write them down on a calendar. If you still can never feel a smile, keep working your program. Hang on to hope that someday that glimmer of happiness will peek back in through the cracks in your world.

YOUR LIFE IS VALUABLE. Don't stop working to redeem your life from the rubble. God created you in His image - "So God created man (and woman) in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Genesis 1:27) You share a resemblance to the God of the universe. We should feel honored that such a perfectly holy, pure, righteous Being as Jehovah God would want to intentionally and obviously identify Himself with us humans. And when God's image in us became marred because we sinned, God immediately set in motion a plan of ultimate sacrifice - just so our lives could be restored to Him in fellowship and victory. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I Corinthians 15:22)

Jesus is for you! Repeat this 'til you finally believe it. He is watching your agonizing daily struggle and cheering you on. "Wherefore He (Jesus) is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR THEM." (Hebrews 7:25)