ABSTRACT

Domestic violence is very real, and so are the numbers. Wishing or praying away domestic violence isn’t going to work. There is a voice crying in the wilderness, the wilderness of violence, threat, stalking, control, fear, and weapons. The covenant of husband and wife, the “death” of so many things, buried in the casket of domestic violence. The covenant of a person’s spirit, a covenant of trust, safety, hope, and connection. Spirituality is always a journey, a wandering here and there, usually forward, but always with twists and turns, with hopes and defeats, with smooth rides and bumpy roads, much like any relationship. Some people insist, almost with a tone of judgment, that doubt is bad, a sin, the antithesis of faith. This line of thought suggests to me more control, more lack of respect for what healthy spirituality is intended to be, and religious abuse.