Hurting Kids: Mercy For Self-Harm

By Nancy Alcorn / Mercy Ministries of America / Nashville, Tennessee / mercyministries.org

 I couldn’t stop myself. I had to cut. Not cutting meant everything was okay, and everything was anything but okay. So dead inside, I picked up a blade and glided it across my thigh. – Lindsay

Lindsay couldn’t take the silent suffering any longer. She had no way to express the pain she felt or the sense of being a prisoner to it, except through self-harm. If she could not feel anything on the inside, she had to prove to herself she could at least feel something on the outside.

Just like Lindsay, millions of people of all ages wrestle with the seemingly inescapable problem of self-harm on a daily basis. Out-of-control emotions or the inability to feel at all may result in self-harming behaviors, such as cuts, burns, bruises, or worse.

Does this scenario describe someone you know who is struggling with self-harm on a regular basis? Are you desperate for answers? There are many girls wanting a way out. Many have found it. Since 1983, Mercy Ministries has served more than two thousand young women from across the country and from varied cultural and economic backgrounds, facing a combination of difficult circumstances.

Julia’s Story

It started out as an accident, really. I was eight years old and dealing with so much hurt and anger. While doing the dishes, I cut myself on some broken glass. For the first time, I felt a moment of freedom from the pain inside, and at the same time it kind of broke through the numbness. I felt alive, almost normal.

Gradually it escalated from “accidents” to very intentional actions. For me it was important, and a bit obsessive, to see…

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Excerpts taken from “Cut: Mercy for Self-Harm” by Nancy Alcorn
The Mercy For book series addresses the life-controlling issues that threaten thousands of young women every day such as eating disorders, self-harm, addictions, and sexual abuse. In fact, Mercy Ministries has received several testimonies from young women who have gained practical advice and scriptural insight from these resources and found freedom! Visit mercyministries.org for more information.