And yet, the study’s researchers report that when these women stopped listening to the black-and-white gender-based analysis of their religious leaders, and developed a healthier spiritual life in which they allowed themselves to reframe their understanding of how God saw abuse, their faith was transformed from a dangerous influence that maintained their abuse into “a powerful source of comfort, hope, and insight” that allowed them to heal from that same abuse.4 The researchers explain: “The women’s faith
