Just because you said it, does not make it true! From my perspective.

Just because you said it, does not make it true.

I had a former spouse who use to quote a scripture from the Bible to me – all the time! Now mind you, she did not quote it word for word but she was able to quote enough of it to make her point VERY clear.

The passage goes like this… Matthew 5:27, 28

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

I bet you can guess what behavior she was accusing me of, that is right, looking at women.

She use to say to me repeatedly, over and over, like a broken record from the 1^st year we were married that I was looking at this woman or that woman and then she would say I had committed adultery. 

I can still hear here say over and over again that I had looked at a particular woman lustfully, undressed her with my eyes and envisioned making love to her. I never knew who she was talking about.

I would question her every single time, which woman are you referring to?

It didn’t matter; there was absolutely no defense for me. She believed that what she said was the absolute truth.

I would often find myself saying to her, just because you said it (in this case that I was looking at a woman), does not make it true.  I would also find myself saying, just because you said it and you perceive it and believe it to be true, does not make it true.  I would then continue to say, what is true for you is not necessarily true for me and you have the right to hold your own truth and I have the right to hold my own truth, your truth is not my truth.  I am entitled to my own truth and you do not have the right or the authority to dictate what is my truth. 

I own my own TRUTH!

It did not matter, not even once.  My former spouse was judge and jury and she believed that what she said, what she said she observed, was the truth and I was to be punished and held liable for my offense against her.

Can you imagine living in a situation like this?  Where you are accused of a behavior, an act, a thought, a belief that you know is not true but the other person professes that they know the truth and you are just a LIAR.

My former spouse said she would never trust a single word that came out of my mouth. She said countless times that I was nothing more than a big fat liar. I am neither big or fat and I am certainly not a liar.

She also indicated she could not and would never trust me.

She believed in her mind that she knew the truth of everything that she was pure as the driven snow, that she could not and was not capable of telling mistruths, exaggerating, fabricating, and lying because she was such a wonderful, loving Christian woman. I was the despicable, lying, jerk who was not to be trusted, believed or respected.

My former spouse is as much a loving Christian woman as I am a bush pilot in the jungles of the Amazon.

Now I know what she was saying was not true, that her accusations were false, that in fact, what she was alleging was her projecting her own issues upon me, but that did not make her any easier to live with.

I knew my truth and I knew that what she was saying was indeed false, wrong, inaccurate and destructive.

No amount of counseling helped us because in each of the counseling sessions she was hell bent on trying to persuade the counselor that I was a dead beat, not to be believed, jerk, whom she could not trust or believe, that I was a liar, a womanizer, an adulterer, a sack of crap and she was as pure as the driven snow.

I put up with this for nearly 15 years, it never got better; I don’t know if it would have ever gotten better. 

Living with a spouse who accuses you of behaviors or things you know you have not done but they have decided you have is painful and difficult.

In my case, these accusations stopped only when we separated and finally divorced, in our case that was the solution. After nearly 15 years of marriage, 10 years of counseling, the solution my former spouse found that ended her nightmare with me was divorce.

Thank goodness!

I don’t recommend divorce for everyone, but for me, this was a blessing.

I own my own truth; no longer can my former spouse dictate my truth. I knew my truth all along and thought by going along we could get along, not true!  

I was abused mentally and physically, all that stopped when I got divorced.

If you are living with a person who believes to know what is going on in your head, who seems to believe they own not only their truth but your truth as well, who accuses you of behavior or actions you know are not true, who acts like judge and jury and who metes out punishment, verbal or otherwise, know that you are not alone and there is help. Know that you are not crazy, know and do not believe that what you are being told holds no value and that you are valuable and what you know is true, is your truth and THAT IS ALL THAT IS IMPORTANT.

Do not let this person continue to bully you, accuse you, threaten you, beat you down, distrust you, make you out to be a liar, intimidate you, punish you, physically hurt or verbally abuse you.

It is time to stand up to the bully, your time is now. Don’t take it any longer.

Announce that you will no longer put up with the accusations, bullying, threats, punishment and mean it and let the chips fall where they may!

You are no one’s punching bag!

There are all kinds of support groups throughout your community. I will help you if you email me at billhytek@hotmail.com. 

Please do not let the destruction of who you are continuing – you deserve better.

God bless you.  May you find the strength to move beyond captivity.

May God bless you with strength and peace, joy and happiness.  May he protect you and guide you and know always that you are loved beyond measure.  

P.S. (This is my truth, my former spouse will read this and most certainly not agree, I don’t care, you don’t control me and you can’t hurt me anymore).