Written By Kesha Townsend // Domestic Violence // EEW Magazine Online

My former abusive husband knocked me unconscious after my 32nd birthday party at home. We got in a fight because he was jealous of all the attention I was getting from friends and family. He told me I was getting a big head and then proceeded to punch me in the face.

The last thing I remember was being curled up in a ball on the kitchen floor trying to shield my face from his blows. That brutal beating resulted in internal bleeding, face lacerations, and a broken eye socket.

It was the last beatdown I endured before leaving.

Cops were called to the house that night by my worried downstairs neighbors. I was good friends with one of the ladies at our apartment complex who later told me she could feel that something was off that night.

That one phone call saved my life!

After seeing my face stitched up, my left eye swollen shut, and horrific swelling that made me look like a monster, out of fear, I pressed charges. My abuser was later convicted and sentenced to prison.

Anyone who has ever been in an abusive relationship knows how hard it is to get out. I was stuck in my physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive relationship for 12 long years—the longest 12 years of my life! Even after pressing charges and leaving him for good, I still loved him, felt committed to him, and wanted to help him. It took a lot of prayer and therapy to get to a good place mentally after being mistreated for so long.

In the early days of recovery, which is a lifelong process for domestic abuse survivors because of the trauma and PTSD, my pastor gave me some good advice. He said to choose at least five Bible verses to meditate on to assist me in staying free mentally and spiritually and avoiding going back to the man who had almost killed me.

Here are 5 Bible verses on freedom that I recommend to women struggling to either get out or stay out of an abusive relationship.

2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Psalm 118:5: “When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.”

Isaiah 61:1: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

1 Corinthians 6:12:  “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.’”

No one understands the struggle of getting free and staying that way quite like victims of domestic violence. Use every tool at your disposal to stay connected to the reasons why leaving was necessary for you.

Your freedom is important and valuable. Don’t give it up for a man who says he loves you but constantly harms you. Christ has set you free from any and everything that binds you. Take advantage of that liberty and walk in it!

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.