Page 20 - Kingdom News Edition 7

Damaged But Not Destroyed

I come from a rural town in the They took the bat from me and began hitting me
delta called Gould, Arkansas. I'm until I couldn't move. They proceeded to gang rape
the youngest of 13 children. me, taking turns, penetrating me orally and anally.

My name is Glenda Treadwell Wil- Covered in mud and blood, I limped home. As I
liams and I would like to share walked in the door of my home, my mother looked
with you my testimony how I was at me and said in a wicked voice, “What did you do
damaged, but not destroyed. I this time?” When my dad saw me he wrapped me
know that by me telling my testi- up and rushed me to the hospital. The police got in-
mony, so many others can relate because there is an volved and the men were arrested and sentenced,
epidemic of sexual abuse running ramped in this earth but their families called me hoe and slut and contin-
realm. ued to harass me for years.

At the age of 5, my cousin forced me to have sex with This event shook me to the core and I got to a point
him and then threatened to hurt me if I told anybody. in my life that I was literally was ready to die. Bro-
This went on for about a year, but then I finally told ken, hurt and confused, I hated my life and all the
my dad what happened. The family handled it the best things that had happened to me, but deep inside I
way they thought they could without letting this dirty heard a calming voice saying to me, “not yet
family secret out. child.” Those men took things from me that I didn't
understand until later in life.
At the age of 8, my own brother began fondling me
late at night. The fondling progressed and escalated to In 1979, there was a guy at my
the point where he would just covered my mouth and school I had the biggest crush on
literally rape me on and off for 3 years. These acts and I thought he liked me. We dat-
opened the door in my life where I began to mastur- ed until he graduated high school.
bate. I didn't understand these feelings I was experi- He went into the Army and when
encing because even though I knew the act was he came home from basic training
wrong, there was still pleasure in it. That is how the we continued our relationship. Our relationship
enemy operates. My spirit was now open to sexual went back and forth on until July 1981. He had al-
perversion and due to the confusion I fell into the ways told me he was going to marry me, but when I
strongholds that were latching onto my life. told him I was pregnant he politely stopped writing,
stopped coming home, and eventually married an-
There became a time when things seemed to subside other woman.
to a place of being normal, I was being a kid, having
fun with my friends and enjoying life. I believe this The abandonment of this man in my life triggered
was just the calm before the storm and things soon something that allowed all my past issues to resur-
became worse. face and bombard my life. Now on top of having to
deal with those resurfaced issues, I now had to be a
One evening in 1975, I was coming from a baseball mother to this new life. I must admit being a mom
game and I passed by three men who were drinking was just a bit overwhelming. I couldn’t keep up
and as I walked by their place, they began to make with my life and ended up dropping out of college
lude remarks about my body. At this age, I was ath- in 1983.
letic and my body was toned. These men weren’t
strangers to me, they were deacons from my church. I Now that I was out of school and caring for my
tried to ignore their comments, but one of them came child, I then met the man that I would marry. He
up behind me and grabbed me from behind. I began to was kind hearted and seemed to love me and my
fight as hard as I could, even hitting him with my bat. son, so I thought. It didn’t take too long for the