What if your story, however, was out of your control? What if someone else's choices turned your story upside down? What if a dark plot twist was inserted into your story unexpectedly without your permission? Maybe you were betrayed by another character. Perhaps an unforeseen enemy entered the story and now the ending you were counting on is no longer an option.

You're standing in a valley too; it's dark, but the slopes rising up on either side are not the consequences of your own choices. They're the painful loss and grief created by someone else's.

Wounds become shackles as they whisper lies in the depths of our minds and souls. The victim of abuse believes, "I am unlovable." A survivor of neglect accepts the lie, "I must be worthless." Beautiful girls violated by evil men look in the mirror and agree with the lie, “I am dirty.” The orphan abandoned believes the lie of rejection and says, "I don't belong."

A wound comes with a lie that when believed becomes a shackle. A shackle worn long enough becomes an identity. Victim.