Do you know how to escape abuse? What is your exit strategy? What is your plan? Many women in abuse need to create a plan, build a network, get financially ready, and then trust themselves to know when it is time to go.
My guest, Anna Karson, has a story that is powerful and will leave you wanting to read more. You are all invited to the Free podcast tomorrow night at 6:30 pm mountain to hear her escape from her abyss of abuse.
Young and Married
My life turned tragic when I was eighteen. I got married right out of high school—young and dumb. For the first month of the marriage, things seemed fine, and then one night, they drastically changed for the worst. My husband became violently abusive.
It was the only time I fought back because he made a point to show me what would happen if I tried to fight back in the future.
The abuse continued for over two years, and I felt I had no way out, as he had promised to kill my family and me if I tried to leave. I know people often don’t understand why someone just doesn’t walk out the door. We don’t have a choice. My time for freedom finally loomed ahead when he was going to be deployed to Iraq for Desert Storm.
I decided that was the only time I’d be able to leave, but I didn’t let on that I was watching my getaway. He beat me severely just a few weeks before he was to leave. Luckily, he went to work and bragged about it.
Once his C.O. heard about it, he immediately had him taken into custody. It gave me a minute to catch my breath. The downside was that the military would order him to stay home and work on our marriage. What was I going to do? I would die as he would blame me for this. I talked to his C.O. again and pleaded with him to have them drop all charges and let him go. I would die as he would blame me for this.
By the time he left and I was headed back to my home state, I was extremely ill because of the many beatings that I had endured.
Freedom—God Never Promised Us an Easy Road
By the time he left and I was headed back to my home state, I was extremely ill because of the many beatings that I had endured. From the beatings, I began to suffer more and more. I have eventually released from him was worth everything. However, I went into acute kidney failure and nearly died on my 21 st birthday. God blessed me with a kidney transplant, allowing my dad to be a great match as my donor.
Over the next twenty-five years, my road would be riddled with many significant obstacles. I eventually rejected that kidney and had to have a second transplant (thanks to one of my brothers then).
I have had primary cancer three times, one of which was very severe in my liver. Because of multiple health reasons, I could not have biological children, so we fostered and adopted four beautiful kids (one with severe mental and developmental delays).
As the years passed and God used all that fear I had packed up and brought with me when I got away from the monster, He was still there to guide me through each horrific health issue I faced. I was firm in my belief that God would get me through it. My faith was strong, and I never wavered when I was sick.
