Urbi is Trouble

Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 
Isaiah 54:4-5.

Urbi is trouble. That is all anyone thought about her. No questions asked as to why problems seemed to follow her, no acknowledgement of her home life. She's just trouble. She's the problem. 

Since she was a young child, these are the things Urbi was told about herself. Raised by a resentful and verbally abusive step-mother, Urbi became the scapegoat of her family. She was blamed for the bad things that happened in her home, even for her own abuse. Eventually, the abuse spread to her school, Urbi's classmates treating her like bad luck, her teachers ignoring the mistreatment because Urbi is just trouble. 

She was hopeless, voiceless. What is the point of speaking up for yourself if nobody will care? By the time she was 17, Urbi had adopted these abusive words as truth, she was the problem, she was to blame for all the trouble in her life. Urbi fell silent with her shame. 

But praise be to God that Urbi joined the RiverCross Club at her school, and she is now crossing the bridge from shame to restoration. Instead of calling herself trouble, Urbi now sees herself as worthy of being heard, saying:
"...because of RiverCross and the storytelling and listening method they use; it brought some restoration in my life, feeling heard and validated after being silent for so long was powerful for me, and the support I am having when it comes to undoing years of false guilt and shame which I was made to believe and had been carrying."

*Although the stories we share are true, identifying details have been changed.