The Waves

Ruth woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Her heart beat wildly and she found herself covered in sweat. Jeremiah and Luisa ran into the room to check up on their daughter. Ruth had not meant to wake everyone up in the house, but for the third night in a row, she had the same nightmare and every night her parents would rush into her room to calm her down.

When Ruth lived with Phillip, her husband, he’d find pleasure in torturing her in the middle of the night. He would wake her up to argue or lecture her about something pointless. Most of those nights would turn overwhelmingly violent. Hitting and throwing her across the room, raping and spiting at her were common torture she’d endure during those crazy nights.

Recently, certain sounds, smells, certain tones of voices and touches were throwing Ruth into anxiety attacks. She didn’t like to leave the safety of her parent’s house. Her days’ outings were to the beach and back. The only excursions she could handle were attending church and her walks to the beach.

Just days ago, Ruth’s mother, Luisa had insisted she’d go to the market to pick up a few things. After great persistence from her mother, Ruth agreed to go; even though deep down in her spirit she felt the struggle had begun.

As Ruth arrived, she noticed that the market was full of people. As she started going to each aisle she noticed some people looking at her. Just the act of people looking at her caused Ruth’s heart to beat fast. She didn’t like the attention; she didn’t like to be around crowds of people.

As she continued to walk through the store she found herself feeling overwhelmed and very nervous. She had to leave.

She left the cart on the side of the aisle and she hastily ran out of the store. She felt stupid for doing so yet, as soon as she got in the car and drove away she felt safe. She drove straight to the beach.

The sound of the waves soothed her spirit. The loud crashing sounds of the waves calmed her anxiety attack and brought her heartbeat back to normal.

She felt silly as she pulled into her parent’s house. She didn’t know how she’d explain all this to her mother.

Ruth didn’t know what was happening to her spirit. She was trusting God for healing. God had rescued her from a violent and abusive marriage. She would trust that He would heal her from these anxiety attacks that were starting to disrupt her life and of those around her.

Note from author:

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder caused by trauma.

Studies of female survivors in domestic violence shelters found that 88 percent of women were living with PTSD.

It is reported that at least 75 percent of abused victims suffer severe anxiety and often leaving them with the effects of social isolation and low self-esteem.

Please join me next week as I go into depth with PTSD and domestic violence.

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