She should have been focused on playing with dolls, spending time with friends and relishing hugs from her caring family around her.
Yet five-year-old Sharyn experienced instead the sadness, anxiety and silent suffering that comes from being a young victim of sexual abuse and incest at the hands of an uncle. What s more, she also endured harsh beatings from her callous mother and had to regularly fight off the carnal advances of her mother s boyfriend.
The painful scars left by the abuse would turn anyone from the loving grace of Jesus, but author Sharyn Anderson-Campbell chose instead to accept the healing that could only come from the Savior.
In The Cry No One Heard, Sharyn reflects on the difficult growing years of her life where fear of rejection was paramount and her cry for help fell on deaf ears, especially within her family.
Her relationship with God was even more strained, which is very apparent in a series of journal entries she includes in the book that contain the demonic oppression she endured during this fragile time.
With time though, Sharyn deepened her relationship and dependence on God, breaking free from the emotional chains of her abuse and finding forgiveness in her heart for her abusers. She provides prayer examples for forgiving abuse from others and for accepting the plan of salvation in one s life.
Her hope is that abuse can be prevented for future generations of children, through people who will answer the innocence s cry for help and do all they can to keep more children from becoming victims of abuse.
It does no good to listen for the cry, hear the cry, and do nothing about the cry. We must act and act immediately to save the children, and keep them from becoming offenders.