What if the holiest choice is the one that gets you out alive? We open a hard, necessary window into a long marriage that began with promise and ended in a maze of fear, manipulation, and emotional and physical abuse. Through the lens of blended family stress, blurred parenting roles, and a body still recovering from heart surgery, we trace the slow drift from “this is hard” to “this is unsafe” and the moment a whispered prayer—God, get me out—became the path to freedom. We walk through the markers that separate conflict from abuse: the constant eggshells, the freeze response, panic attacks, and the way dignity erodes when home no longer feels like home. You’ll hear how faith can be misused to keep people stuck, and how mercy sometimes arrives as a closed door, a separation, or a divorce that protects life. We talk about owning personal faults without absorbing blame for someone else’s harm, choosing forgiveness to release bitterness, and rebuilding a nervous system that has lived on red alert. Along the way, we ground the conversation in practical support—church-based care groups, community resources, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline—while offering a simple, courageous reframe: safety is not selfish; it is sacred. If you’ve ever asked whether staying is love or fear, this conversation gives language, validation, and permission. We name the grief, honor the courage to leave, and hold space for future hope. If your heart races as you listen, consider it data. Press play, breathe, and if you need help, reach out. Subscribe, share with someone who needs to hear this, and leave a review to help others find a way toward safety and healing.

We tell the truth about a marriage that moved from hope to harm and how a desperate prayer led to the courage to leave. Safety, faith, and forgiveness guide a path out of abuse and into recovery. • defining abuse across verbal, emotional, and physical • blended family pressures and blurred roles • nervous system alarms and freeze response • prayer, faith, and the mercy of closed doors • separation, affair disclosure, and legal divorce • grief, self-accountability, and forgiveness • when staying is love and when leaving is love • resources and practical steps for safety National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-7997233 available 24-7 Text BEGIN to 88788 Share this with someone who needs to know it’s okay to leave Subscribe so you won't miss episode 7 If you need help, reach out. Please, I love to hear from you.

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