142. Out of the Cage (with Amy Nordhues)

Guest Bio: Amy Nordhues is a survivor of both childhood sexual abuse and sexual abuse as an adult at the hands of a mental health professional. She is a passionate believer in Jesus and expert on the healing God provides. She has a BA in psychology with minors in sociology and criminology. In 2021, Amy published her story of abuse as an adult in the award-winning memoir Prayed Upon: Breaking Free from Therapist Abuse. Now a full-time advocate for victims of therapist/clergy abuse, she has a well-loved blog, speaks at conferences, and has more than 35 radio and podcast interviews on the subject. A married mother of three, she enjoys spending time with family, writing, reading, photography, and all things comedy.

Show Summary: We want to warn you that this episode includes the topics of suicide, sexual assault, and abuse. As an adult, we often think we’re incapable of falling into abusive situations or sexual grooming. However, roughly 50,000 people are working toward healing after finding themselves a victim to abusers within the church, doctor offices, therapy offices, jobs, and other places or situations where we often think we’re safe.  Amy Nordhues is a survivor and an advocate for other survivors who have been through clergy and therapist abuse. Join Amy as she tells her story to hosts Elisa Morgan and Eryn Adkins during this conversation on God Hears Her.

Notes and Quotes: 

• “I refer to these traumas like an earthquake; there’s the initial quake and there are these smaller, mini quakes that happen for years.” –Amy Nordhues

• “An ethical therapist will never burden the clients. They will be a blank slate for you when you walk in, and then you leave [your appointment] knowing that they can take care of themselves.” –Amy Nordhues

• “Suddenly I found myself thinking, ‘God doesn’t make abusers’, and, ‘God doesn’t make evil’ . . . so what if God restored my abuser to the person that He made, would I be okay with that person going to heaven?” –Amy Nordhues

• “Forgiveness is not that you like your abuser now or that you’re okay with what happened, but I feel like it’s telling God that this burden is too heavy for me and I need you to take it.” –Amy Nordhues

• I had spent most of my life in darkness, bitterness, and anger. . . . I wasn’t going back there. And I like to tell victims, “Don’t let your abusers take that [hope] away from you; don’t let them take away your faith. Don’t let them put you back into that cage of anger and bitterness.” –Amy Nordhues

Verses: 

• Exodus 14:14 NIV

• Deuteronomy 32:35 NIV

• Psalm 37:6 NIV

Links: 

• Amy’s website: www.amynordhues.com

• Amy’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Prayed-Upon-Breaking-Therapist-Abuse

• God Hears Her website: https://www.godhearsher.org/

• God Hears Her email sign-up: https://www.godhearsher.org/sign-upsfmc 

• Subscribe on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/god-hears-her-podcast/id1511046507?utm_source=applemusic&utm_medium=godhearsher&utm_campaign=podcast

• Amy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amynordhuesauthor/

• Elisa’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisamorganauthor/

• Eryn’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eryneddy/

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