Okay, ready to get real with me? This book was both hard + healing for me to read. Why?⁣
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Eleven years ago, I was raped. I spent two years trapped in an incredibly physically and sexually abusive relationship, having grown up in purity culture which left me seemingly no choice but to stay with and marry the one who forced sex upon me and stole my purity and virginity. ⁣
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Touch hasn’t ever been the same for me after that. ⁣
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I’ve flinched and jumped at mere touches on the shoulder. I’ve had to start relearning how to let people touch me, how to see touch as good, how to heal and find restoration, etc. ⁣
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So this book? Oof. ⁣
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I needed it. I wrestled through it. I’m grateful for it. It address touch in ways beyond just sexual/erotic, and broke down categories of touch in a way I had never considered. ⁣
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It looked at Jesus again and again, reminding me how often Jesus touched and was touched, and how crucial touch is in our lives, no matter our stories. It was tender toward those who had been abused, which I was really sensitive toward and nervous about. It didn’t seek to prescribe formulas or answers, but explored touch in a gracious and biblical way that I really appreciated. ⁣
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I read it with a guard up, for sure, but now that I’m processing my thoughts on it, I’m realizing how deeply it impacted me and how meaningful it is to me to read a book like this. ⁣
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Okay, the vulnerable hangover is coming on STRONG so I’ll leave it there... but yes— read this, read this, read this. ⁣