In recent years, Edina Morningside Church member Gwen Williams has shared in worship and other settings her lifelong efforts to overcome the effects of childhood sexual abuse. Her courage in addressing this history has modeled for the whole congregation the power that comes from leaning into our birthright identity as beloved children of God. Gwen’s story is now reaching a broad new audience throughout the state, thanks to a TV feature story called “Silenced No More: Victims of Sexual Abuse Speaking Out on Criminal Justice Reforms”.
Gwen was interviewed last month on ABC 6 News in southeastern Minnesota, near where Gwen was born. She shared her experience with abuse growing up, and connected it to the need for extending the current brief window of time allowed by law for survivors of sexual abuse to seek justice in the legal system. Gwen’s case put a human face on this broader systemic concern, echoed by Olmstead County law enforcement officials in the television story. For more information, watch the interview or read the associated article by ABC 6 News.
Well done, Gwen! Thanks be to God for your transformational courage!