The Larimores (Barb, Kate, Scott, and I) will be on a two-day Focus on the Family Daily Radio Broadcast discussing the topic “Finding Healing from Sexual Abuse” on Monday, February 1 and Tuesday, February 2. Information about listening to the broadcast live or via podcast can be found here:

• Monday, February 1, 2010, Finding Healing from Sexual Abuse (Part 1 of 2),
• Tuesday, February 2, 2010, Finding Healing from Sexual Abuse (Part 2 of 2).

I first publically discussed the sexual abuse that occurred in our family in my bookBryson City Secrets. It was this abuse that led us to leave Bryson City back in 1985.

Why would Barb and I (and, why would Kate and Scott [and Scott’s wife Jennifer]) want to discuss such a private thing – such an intimate family secret publically?

Here’s what I wrote in Bryson City Secrets:

Our children were exceptionally close. They could talk together about almost anything. They were each other’s counselor and confidant. They could talk for hours and were surprisingly accurate in predicting what the other would think or say about nearly any subject.

So to have such a deep and painful discussion as a family didn’t seem unusual.

What impressed Barb and me most during our Thanksgiving visit was our children’s maturity and knowledge of biblical principles. We would each take time to share our insights about the difficulties of our past and how, in each case, God had turned apparent disease and disaster into a blessing for each of us.

Kate’s Cerebral Palsy and surgeries, Scott’s many accidents, our financial downturns, and many other family events had taught and matured us. We could see the good and the blessing that eventually developed from each situation.

As a family, we were convinced the same would come from this time of talking so openly about something we all would rather have forgotten. Finally we could talk no more. We were physically and emotionally spent. We gathered around each other to have an evening prayer.

In bed that night Barb and I held each other close for a long time.

The next morning was Thanksgiving Day. We shared a glorious Thanksgiving lunch at a restaurant in the gargantuan lobby of Union Station near the Capitol. After our meal, we practiced a Thanksgiving tradition for our family—we each named something for which we were thankful.

Around and around the comments went—for many, many minutes. We laughed and smiled and occasionally shared some tears as we each recalled all the things for which we could truly give thanks. But most of all we were thankful for each other and for the many gifts bestowed on us by our Creator.

Kate later wrote to us, “It was good for us as a family to discuss what had happened and its effects on us. I knew the Lord could bring wholeness and healing to our family. I knew that in some ways our family journey was just beginning.”

Now that we’ve decided to discuss our pain, and our healing, publically. And, we pray that it will be of help to many families around the world who hear this broadcast.

If you’re interested, you can get an autographed copy of Bryson City Secrets, or any of the other Bryson City books) here.

You can also read sample chapters of most of my books here.