Something More Than Nothing

For over 20 years, Jennifer sat alone in the back of a church, silently enduring mental abuse and praying for it to stop. Today, she's a trained advocate helping other survivors find hope through Kingdom Workers' RISE program. Her journey from isolation to advocacy shows how Christ-centered support can transform pain into purpose.

How do you convince someone that nothing is something to fight for? How do you get someone to believe the bare minimum is what they deserve?

For over 20 years, it happened to me. I existed, truly believing other people were important and had value in this world. I knew I was valuable to God, but not to anyone around me.

When Worthlessness Becomes Your Reality

What if we were constantly told or shown, directly or indirectly, that we were worthless? Even if we were to have grown up knowing we were an important part of this world, but then unknowingly welcomed toxic relationships into our lives that made a game out of telling us the opposite. What then? Where would we be?

Well, for me, I'd be here, typing out my story to an unknown audience of readers, hoping that if they read it, it somehow makes its way to them.

My story is about being the survivor of years of mental abuse. Not a single bruise on me, but if the mental abuse I endured were to be translated into a physical sense, I doubt I would have survived.

Over time and through consistent work in therapy, I started to recognize the daily lies, constant manipulation, and altered sense of reality that had been going on for years with my former spouse. I was finally waking up, and this awareness became threatening to him. So much so, he packed up a suitcase one Wednesday while I was at work, and left the state he lived in to go be with the woman he met on the internet. He never came back.

Finding a Place to Be Seen

Then my life became unbearable. While he was gone physically, legally disconnecting from him was excruciating. Between morning services every Sunday for over a year, I would sit alone, in the very back of the church, praying and often crying. Every week I'd pray the same thing: "Please God, please, please, please make it stop." And it did, eventually.

When it was brought to my attention that Kingdom Workers had a program to help survivors of abuse, there was no question that God wanted me to be involved. So, I went through the training to become an Advocate for abuse survivors.

I wanted to be the person I so desperately needed all those Sundays when I sat alone in the back of church, crying. Where plenty of people were around and looked at me, but not one had the courage to tell me I was valued. Even still, I cannot find the words to express what I would have given for one person, just one, to be there and let me feel seen, made it known to me that I mattered.

Looking back, I know those Sundays had to happen for me to experience how important it is for people to know they are important. I know what it feels like to live a life where you operate at a level of excessive stress and anxiety, believing that you are worthless. That's a life I wouldn't wish on anyone.

What I would wish, however, is that every person I come in contact with would leave my presence knowing with 100% certainty that they are worth something more than nothing.

What a privilege it is to share such a dark season of my life and to know that it may help other victims and survivors of abuse. Not a second goes by that I am not grateful to Kingdom Workers for allowing me to become an Advocate for abuse survivors.

Kingdom Workers: Restoring Hope Through Family Care

Kingdom Workers brings hope and healing to families in need through practical support and Christ-centered care. From fostering children to supporting those who have experienced abuse, we walk alongside families facing life's challenges.

RISE (Restoring Identity through Support and Empowerment) supports those who have experienced relationship abuse by providing:

• A safe space to connect with trained volunteer advocates
• Practical support and Christ-centered care
• Opportunities to hear the gospel and experience God's transforming love

2024 RISE Impact

159 people were served through RISE

87% of RISE volunteers had an opportunity to share the gospel with a survivor of relationship abuse

Every person deserves to know they are worth something more than nothing.