A quick recap of "To the Man Who Broke Me (Part 1):"
The girl dated a very narcissistic abusive man who she felt deep in her heart that she shouldn't have. She went through 4 years of hardship as she tried to remove herself from this man who held onto her so tightly. She managed to get away only because the country shut down because of a quarantine.
Now back to the story. We'll back up a little bit before the girl leaves the narcissistic man. Before the girl leaves this man, she takes the leap of faith and relies on God to give her the strength she needs to reach out to those who she deep down knows she can trust. For the first time, she speaks out about struggling with this man and the hardship of the relationship but also trying to hide the urgency of the situation. Within a few months, she starts receiving Christian counseling not for the abuse this man was giving her, but the abuse she dealt with in high school. She finds healing and clarity in the feeling all the suffering. She realizes that Christ has been by her side through all this suffering and she is reminded again of the Romans 5 that brought her to Christ. Every Monday morning is hard for the girl because it meant facing the pain, but the pain lessens over time.
Within 4 months of being in counseling, the girl manages to find a two-bedroom apartment that would accept her income and she hopes to find another single female as a roommate in the process of living there so that she can afford to have a place to stay, eat, and manage to pay off some of her student loans. She removes all her belongings that she deems most valuable to her and completely starts over after leaving the very narcissistic man. She leaves with mostly the items she brought across the country with her because the narcissistic man took all of the stuff that was bought while living in the west coast.
The girl spends the first week or so sleeping on the floor but at least it is carpeted. There is no furniture in the apartment or kitchen utensils yet because she drained out her savings and doesn't have the money to buy those things yet. Through God's grace and mercy and the help of friends, the girl has a bed and low quality kitchen utensils. It isn't much but it is more than the girl could ask for in such a short period of time. God provides for her when she needs it most.
The girl continues to go through counseling another 4 months but not without the narcissistic man coming to her only safe place, her church. She lives on edge when she goes to church and wonders when he'll get the idea that she does not want to be with him or around him anymore. Despite that chaos ensuing from that man, counseling continues and she feels her soul healing and more at peace. She sees the beauty in the brokenness that she had to endure. She sees the lessons she's learned, the wife and mom she wants to be, and the man she would marry if she ever felt capable of letting herself trust someone who could harm her in the same way that man did.
As the situation with the man does not get better, she starts questioning whether she should file a restraining order against the man. In the beginning of March 2020, she decides to file one because it is not out of hatred or fear but out of love and setting boundaries to protect herself, but God stops her short. Right before that happens, the country shuts down and the girl's life is turned upside down as she learns to live life stuck in her home away from the man and society. Despite being cooped up in the apartment for a few months, God uses that time to restore the girl from the anxiety and last bit of the depression she had with the narcissistic man around.
She feels so renewed and restored but with some healing left to go. She reflects on her life and her options as she tries to figure out what is next after life without student loans She doesn't know where God is leading her but she doesn't want to wait around for it to fall in her lap like that man did a few years ago. She looks at what's out there for her and decides that she feels that God is either pointing her to traveling across the country and living in the a van or attempting to go to school again or trying online dating which she was wary about prior to the narcissistic man.
God takes her through the online dating route, which is the most out of the girl's comfort zone. She relies on God to protect her and guide her as she finds the man who loves her like Christ.
The final installment of this 3-Part story is up next: To the Man Who Loves Me.
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