Help at the Right Time

A woman wrote the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia to thank them for the Awake! magazine on “Healing the Wounds of Child Abuse.” She explained:

“At age 12, I was being sexually molested by my mother’s boyfriend. I knew that what was happening was wrong. However, at the time I thought I had been bad and done something horrible and that this was God’s way of punishing me. My heart used to crumble at the thought of visiting this man, knowing too well what was going to happen. But I had to go, for my mother gave her consent for him to perform his perverted fantasies on me for money. How could my mother push me away like that? I learned to switch off my emotions and to become bitter toward life and God.

“It was only in 1992 that I spoke to one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I learned many things. The most important was that Jehovah God loves all of us and that he wasn’t punishing me.

“So this letter is to thank you for your Awake! articles on the ‘Wounds of Child Abuse’ in the October 8, 1991, issue.

“I have dedicated my life to Jehovah and plan to be baptized next year.”

In two months Awake! received more than a thousand letters of thanks for the above issue of Awake! alone. However, far more important than showing readers how to cope with today’s problems, Awake! builds confidence in the Creator’s provision, based on Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, of a peaceful and secure new world that will cure all ills. If you would like to have further information about that new world, or a free home Bible study, write to Watchtower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201, or to the appropriate address listed on page 5.

[Pictures on page 32]

Awake!

Awake!

Awake!

Children UNDER STRESS How Can They Be Helped?