.png)
I Need Blue
I turned around to see a masked man pointing a gun at me. It was just the beginning of a series of events, including robbery and abduction, which changed my life forever. I Need Blue, hosted by Jen Lee, is a podcast series featuring lived-experiences from survivors of life events. I NEED BLUE creates space for survivors of trauma to feel they BELONG, are LOVED, UNDERSTOOD and EMPOWERED! I called 9-1-1 and they provided me with life-saving directions to help my customer who was having a medical emergency. Law enforcement rescued us and caught the robber. Our first-responders face unique traumas every day. I NEED BLUE provides space for them too!
I Need Blue
Theresa: Seventeen Years of Silence—and the Voice That Emerged
Theresa’s courage proves that even after 17 years of silence, a voice can rise stronger than the violence that tried to silence it.
When Teresa heard glass shatter that March morning in 2007, her life changed forever. She survived a horrific sexual assault in her own home, and though her attacker was never caught, her story is defined by resilience, not violence.
Alert and courageous during the attack, Teresa later reclaimed her life through faith, therapy, supportive friends, and artistic expression. Now, she shares her journey to empower others to speak, heal, and move forward with God guiding them.
If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, visit:
https://rainn.org for free, confidential support.
National hotline: Available 24 hours. 1-800-656-4673
Connect with Jen:
I Need Blue now has a new home at The Healing in Sharing! Visit thehealinginsharing.com to explore Round Chair Conversations, all relevant I Need Blue content, and ways to support the mission of sharing stories that inspire hope and resilience.
By sharing the hidden lines of our stories, we remind each other we are not alone — together, we step out of hiding and into healing.
Instagram: @ineedbluepodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ineedblue
Apple Podcasts: Listen & Subscribe
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheHealingInSharing11
Memoir: Why I Survived, by Jennifer Lee on Amazon
Imagine when you share your darkest hours they become someone else's light. I'm Jennifer Lee, a global community storyteller, host, author and survivor, guiding you through genuine, unfiltered conversations. Together we break the silence, shatter stigma and amplify voices that need to be heard. Each episode stands as a testament to survival, healing and reclaiming your power. Listen to I Need Blue on Apple Podcasts, spotify, youtube or your favorite platform. Learn more at wwwineedbluenet. Trigger warning I Need Blue shares real-life stories of trauma, violence and abuse meant to empower and support.
Speaker 1:Please take care of yourself and ask for help if needed. Now let's begin today's story. She's barely a hundred pounds, but what she carries is immeasurable. Beneath her fragile frame is a heart of iron, unshakable perseverance and a smile that shines with the warmth of the sun. I often say everyone has a story, and it's true. Most people walk through life wearing invisible armor, smiles hiding the weight of pain, trauma and memories too heavy to speak. Imagine carrying that burden for years. At some point it becomes too much. That's when we realize it's time to let go, time to lose the weight of trauma, ptsd, depression and take our voice back.
Speaker 1:One day, teresa said to me I have a story. Saturday, march 31st, 7.26 am. She heard glass shatter and assumed it was the handyman. But it wasn't. It was the start of a nightmare. A stranger was outside her home and minutes later she endured something no one ever should she would be raped in the very place where she should have felt safest. The details remain etched in her mind clear, precise. It's not just a memory, it's her truth.
Speaker 1:Though Teresa was raised by government investigator parents who taught her to recognize danger, nothing could have prepared her for what happened that day, because maybe nothing ever truly can. But there's a truth that rings loud and clear you never truly know how strong you are until you're faced with danger. Know how strong you are until you're faced with danger. You never truly understand the depths of your resilience until you are forced to fight your way through it. Before we began recording, teresa said I think this is going to be cathartic. For me, her story is more than her own. It's a spark that could inspire others to speak their truth. Today, it's not just about sharing her story. It's about shedding the weight of the past and embracing the power of reclaiming what was once taken power of reclaiming what was once taken. It's time to take our voices back. Teresa, thank you so much for being my friend and for being my guest today. Welcome to the. I Need.
Speaker 2:Blue podcast. Thank you very much, Jennifer. I really appreciate this opportunity.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much, Jennifer. I really appreciate this opportunity.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, you know. I want to start with asking, because not many of us grow up with government investigative parents. What was that like? Lots of phone number changes, parents very careful about where we went, what we did. My sister prefers to say they were very too strict, let's put it that way. I prefer to say they taught us a lot of lessons and warned us about what we could face. And when I mentioned to my dad that I was interested in going into the same field, he looked me square in the face and he said don't. He said it's too dangerous and I don't want my daughter being put in danger did you heed his warning or did your own?
Speaker 2:well, I tried to apply for the local sheriff's office. I tried even without him knowing I was old enough and I couldn't pass the physical because of my eyes. So you know there was no sense in mentioning it. You know at the time, yes. So I figured if I couldn't pass the physical for that then I probably wouldn't pass the physical for anything else. So I could have done something on the back end and pursued criminal justice in another way, maybe in legal field or something like that. I chose to go into another field that was more humanities related and in advertising, so I didn't have to face too much of what I grew up with.
Speaker 1:Right. Did they ever share any stories or experiences with you, or was that more of a hush hush?
Speaker 2:A lot of it was hush hush because it was still under investigation. My dad was not allowed to talk about anything that was still under investigation, but I did have access to his closed cases, everything that was on record, and sometimes he would let me read his copy of the transcripts from the trials, which was absolutely fascinating for me, and that was one reason I really wanted to pursue the field and I really wanted to pursue the field, anyway. So I learned a lot from the transcripts about what he faced and about being on stakeouts and things like that. And stakeouts aren't all like they see on TV, they're peanut butter sandwiches that you take with you and you wait for hours and hours and hours, sometimes for nothing to happen, you know, and a thermos of coffee.
Speaker 1:So what was dating like? I have to ask.
Speaker 2:Oh my heavens, my dad would answer the door and literally size them up and check them out. There were a couple that he actually turned away and said no, you're not good enough to date my daughter. And in retrospect, of course, he was right and he's like do not accept dates without me knowing who it is. And my mom too. Both of them. They had to meet them first. They went through the grilling who are you? What are your plans for the future? What do you do now? Where do you go to school? You know all of that and most of the time when I started dating, it was parental guidance. Along the way they had to drive the kids you know a parent and then they'd wait for us in the car if we were having dinner or that kind of thing. It was really or a movie. It was fine. In retrospect it was just fine and I understand why they did that. And the other parents of the boys understood too.
Speaker 2:And I eventually started dating on my own and started making different types of decisions, remembering what my mom and dad had given me as parameters to follow. I pretty much stayed within the parameters, you know, except for maybe the length of the hair or a beard and mustache. You know that kind of thing. My sister, on the other hand, at one point she was dating a guy who worked for a subversive newsletter based out of Cuba, and my father had a sit down with us and he said do you realize? I could lose my job, your food on the table, if you continue to see this young man behind our backs. I only saw my dad cry twice, three times. Once was that day, once was when I got married the first time and once when my mother died. He was a very, very strong character and my hero.
Speaker 1:What did you learn from watching your hero a very strong person cry?
Speaker 2:That everybody has some vulnerability, everybody has a crack in that shell has a crack in that shell, and it made me feel like he was more human. I don't know if my sister felt that because the conversation was truly directed at the situation that she was in, but I certainly hope so.
Speaker 1:I know in sharing today, there's definitely a part of you that's feeling vulnerability. We were talking about this. Are you drawing some of your strength from your dad?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, oh yes, I have his genes.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you dad.
Speaker 2:Yes, I have his genes in many, many ways. I've got my mom's genes when it comes to size, my dad's genes when it comes to character.
Speaker 1:I love it. Thank you so much for sharing all of that. I love getting to know our guests and I think it's really important for the audience to be able to understand that as well. So thank you again for sharing, of course. So, moving on to your story, what year was it?
Speaker 2:It was 2007. It was 18 years ago and I'm hoping by saying what I have to say will release the negative energy that I have every single year. In March, I start having wicked nightmares. And it's been 18 years and you'd think I'd quote be over it. But you never get over it, never.
Speaker 2:My dad gave me a lot of strength afterwards. My concern was oh my God, what am I going to say to my parents? But they raised me. To be honest, they treated me like an adult that got into a bad situation. That was not my fault. It took me days to tell them, days. But my dad was the first to suggest that I start carrying a weapon and learn how to use it, even though he had trained us as kids about guns and gun safety and taking us to the range and outdoor ranges, and taught me how to shoot a shotgun and his couple of his weapons not his service revolver by any means. That was totally outside the realm of reality. But it never occurred to me to own one of my own. It never occurred to me to own one of my own.
Speaker 1:Delicate question. It took you a few days to tell your parents.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:How long did it take you to say the word rape?
Speaker 2:Well, it didn't take me long because I had to give a statement after it was all said and done and the detective was very, very understanding. You could tell he'd been in the field for a long time. I was treated with respect. He listened to every word that I said. He wrote everything down, thing down. Also, because of my upbringing, I noticed a lot of details that were very helpful to them in the investigation and he told me that I'd given one of the most vivid descriptions of what happened in his career. So I was very, very glad that I complied and didn't curl up like a ball in the fetal position and say no, I can't talk about it. And that strength came from my dad for sure.
Speaker 1:Yes, you lived alone at this time, correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, you lived alone at this time, correct?
Speaker 1:Yes, Are you comfortable, in this moment, taking us what it was like at those?
Speaker 2:moments, 18 years, exactly what happened, except that detective I mean my dearest friend knows about the incident. The woman who was actually my savior was a friend that I ran to after the incident Incident is such a light word Afterwards knew what happened. She knew more of the details than anybody because she heard me. I mean, I babbled at first but she calmed me down quite a bit and that's part of the story too, but nobody's ever heard it before too, but nobody's ever heard it before.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for trusting me to share it and for sharing it with our audience. As I said in the beginning, this is going to spark somebody who hasn't been able to find their voice yet, maybe hasn't been able to say the word rape, and name it for what it actually is that violation, even if it's just taking that first step. So what you are doing today is amazing, I hope it can help somebody. It will.
Speaker 2:Too many people, especially women, vulnerable women, are afraid to report it. Women, vulnerable women, are afraid to report it. They're afraid to say it even, especially date rape, because they somehow or another feel like it's their fault because they went out on a date with the guy or men. I've heard of men being raped, you know, drugged, and they are way too embarrassed to tell the truth.
Speaker 1:You are right. Your story began with shattered glass.
Speaker 2:So I was sleeping. It was a weekend, saturday. I was on jury duty at the time and I was awakened by the shattered glass. And it was early in the morning. I remember looking at the clock when I went. Anyway, I went to the window in my dining room and the glass in two of my panes had been broken out. They were awning windows, so the two bottom panes were broken and there was glass everywhere. I was just grateful it was on the floor and not near my birds, because I kept my birds in the dining room. I had no dining room table.
Speaker 2:I saw somebody hunched over outside my window and I thought it was my handyman our handyman, because I had a problem with the bottom window pane closing. All the way Before that I'd thrown on some shorts because I was sleeping and I didn't want to go out undressed. On some shorts because I was sleeping and I didn't want to go out undressed. So I went out to see Ulysses that was the name of our handyman. I called his name but I didn't hear him call back. Great man always on the ball fixing stuff. I had just reported the window the day before and I figured he'd come early before the day. Went crazy on him because I was in the corner unit and he knew that I wanted my window fixed as soon as I could get it fixed.
Speaker 2:So I opened the back door and I went out onto the patio and this man came, stood up from my dining room window and he had one of my gardening tools, one of my sharp gardening tools, in his hand, and it wasn't Ulysses. He had broken the glass with my gardening tool trying to get in. He headed towards me Mike, what do you want? Who are you? I realized he was drunk, he smelled like alcohol and I don't know where he came from. But before I knew it he shoved me down onto the concrete and literally jumped on top of me. He tossed the gardening tool and pulled out a knife. I don't know where the knife came from, but it was really rusty, dirty. He might have gotten it because I lived in an apartment that had a view of a lake and a golf course that was not used anymore. He could have picked it up in the field. I don't know. But all I knew was that if he cut me with that, it was infection crazy and I would probably die. And he had it at my throat, so bleeding out didn't even occur to me, it was the infection. I mean, how silly is that? But I kept pushing him off, trying to push him off, push him off and push him off and fight, and I kept crawling backwards and wiggling backwards towards the door. And I made it to the door and I opened the screen door. I managed to get that open, but while he was getting up and I ran to my apartment and he shoved me down, punched me in the back and I hit the floor.
Speaker 2:Well, he came in, left the screen door open and I kept saying this is very odd in my brain what is happening? Don't let my dog out. Oh my God. I just kept trying to say to him don't let my dog out. And he couldn't speak English. He was, it turns out, mexican, of Mexican descent. He kept talking to me in Spanish and waving the knife, and I was still on the floor at this time.
Speaker 2:He turned me over and he started pulling down my pants. He turned me over and he started pulling down my pants and at that point I remember thinking, jesus Christ, I'm being raped. And I tried to squirm out of that, because he was trying, using both hands, to pull down my pants with the knife in his hand, and no, my pants kept coming off. So he raped me right there on the living room floor and I'm thinking okay, comply, don't fight. Unless you see an out, don't fight, just comply, because that's what I was told to do to save my life, if that was a possibility of losing my life and there was.
Speaker 2:So after he was finished, at that point he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. I couldn't scream, I couldn't holler, I kept screaming on the patio. He had one hand over my mouth, his body weight was on top of me, and then he had the knife in the other. After he picked me up by the throat, he started dragging me further into the apartment.
Speaker 2:Well, there were only two places to go. It was either well, three, the kitchen, the bathroom or the bedroom. And then he stopped grabbing me by the throat and he grabbed me by the hair and started dragging me down the hallway. Well, when my hair let loose, he grabbed me by the arms and stood me up, the knife to my neck, and shoved me into the bedroom. And I was trying to scream. Nobody could hear me because everybody was asleep and there were thick walls and you know. But he kept coming and lunged at me to shut up. Thank God he didn't close the bedroom door, for the reasons I'll tell you later and gave me another punch in the back and I landed on the bed face down.
Speaker 2:Well, my phone in the bedroom. We had already passed my cell phone. My cell phone was in the kitchen and we had already passed that. So I tried to reach for the phone on the opposite side of the bed, since I was face down, and he pulled the phone out of the wall and onto the floor and he sodomized me there. At this point I had no underwear and no pants on, obviously, and he just kept gripping me by the neck from the back of the neck and shoved my face down into the bed. So I couldn't scream and I couldn't make any noise and obviously the phone was gone. So that was out of the question.
Speaker 2:And then he grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me over and with one hand on my mouth, he raped me again from the front. All this time, at least, I had my T-shirt on Still it was a crop T-shirt because I was sleeping in it which eventually ended up in evidence. So he raped me again and then at one point he had put the knife down onto the bed because he needed both hands. He tried to lift my legs. I don't know how long this went on. At this point I have no clue. All I know is that my dog was trembling in the chair in the corner of my bedroom and I'm like just don't hurt my dog, hurt me, don't hurt my dog.
Speaker 2:At this point my brain was always thinking for a way out, thinking for a way out. You know, look for vulnerabilities, look for a way out. You know. That was why I tried to get the phone. That's why I tried to push him off of me and squirm a lot, you know, because he was drunk and I feel. But he was physically just too strong. He was very heavy weight I barely weighed 100, like you said, and I was in good condition physically.
Speaker 2:After he turned me over, I noticed the knife on the bed. When he rolled me over, he yanked me over by the shoulders and threw me back on the bed face up and I started to scream. Of course a hand went over my mouth and he let go and he realized nobody could hear me. My voice was getting weaker, my sounds were getting more shallow, I could hardly breathe because of the punches in my back, and he punched me in the face, knocked me out for a couple of seconds and when I woke up I see him trying to push my legs over my head, above my head, so he could sodomize me from the front. Well, that woke me up quite a bit and I reared back with both my feet when the opportunity arose and I kicked him as hard as I could at the shoulders and he went flying about seven or eight feet into the vanity section of my bedroom. So at that point I jumped up. He grabbed my ankle, couldn't hang on to it.
Speaker 2:I squiggled out of that and I ran out the back door barefoot, no panties on, no nothing, screaming for Dorothy, my neighbor, but she was very heavy and handicapped. I knew she couldn't do anything except open the door and she was too close. He was right behind me and I just ran down the back of the apartment complex and I saw my neighbor upstairs and I screamed for her name. She saw me running. By the grace of God, she heard me, she saw me and she's like come up here, come up here, come up here, and I ran upstairs to her apartment. She opened the door and flung it open and she grabbed a beach towel because she was a beach hound and wrapped it around my bottom and I told her what happened and she went back out onto her patio. And she went back out onto her patio and I followed her and we could see him throw the gardening tool and the knife into the lake. He had his pants down around his ankles, he was still there and she was on the phone with 911. So at that point she went and got me a pair of pants I could wear and changed my shirt and I remember just sitting there waiting for the police to come and I was shaky like I am now.
Speaker 2:They were there in a matter of three minutes. It was very quick response because we were in the back of the apartment complex. There was a gate they had to come through and they were quick. They had to be there. Like it probably took them a minute just to get to the back of the apartment complex, even flying. They came up to her apartment and I was in the living room at this point and they took a short statement from me there, but within minutes they had the dogs out. But within minutes they had the dogs out. Within a few minutes after that they had swimmers out in the lake. They had swarmed my apartment. It was quite an entourage, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2:It was wonderful to see they responded so quickly and I had a female officer with me sitting with me and um, and the sergeant arrived almost immediately and he was in special crimes, special victims unit along with but I had the regular police along with his team and my neighbor, whose name I won't mention. She was there in a serious time of need and I honestly believe that God put her there and she was so quick to get me new clothes. She said the police are going to want your top. She was so smart and so savvy. She stayed calm. Let me break down for a few minutes. And all the while I kept saying make sure my dog is okay, make sure Willie's okay, please, because he was in the apartment after I left for quite a while and I didn't want anything to happen to him or my birds. I couldn't have kids and he was my baby, so it was just very surreal. I felt like I was in a movie. You know that wasn't happening to me and I was like this spirit on the wall watching what was happening.
Speaker 1:Did they catch him?
Speaker 2:No they never did, which is also part of my story. Eventually they took my clothes that my friend had given me and that I was wearing for DNA. They had already gotten everything. They'd stripped my sheets. They had gone to my apartment. They said it was all smashed up but Willie was okay and my friend went down and got him and brought him to her apartment and she also had a dog and they got along just fine. I didn't get to see him before. I had to go to the crisis center so I rode with the detective on the way. She gave me fresh clothes. My friend gave me fresh clothes to wear. Poor thing lost two sets of clothes that day.
Speaker 1:If this is hard, I'm working to transition you out of having to continue to talk about the experience if it's difficult, if it's difficult.
Speaker 2:It's okay because it's tough, but it's okay because the process was so thorough. So I rode with the detective, followed by a police car, down to the crisis center. They did the whole rape kit on me and they found torn vaginal skin and torn rectal skin and blood. They got a lot of DNA, they told me, and the detective and I stayed in touch. I gave a full statement, like I did just to you, to the detective, and probably in more detail, because I gave him a description and what he was wearing. I noticed everything about him, just like I was raised to do, and got in a bad situation. The detective and I stayed in touch daily for weeks, daily for weeks, and it turns out that the guy who raped me had also been matched to two other rapes in the same city, but they didn't have a name, and also several rapes in Mexico, but the Mexican police would not release his name to the sheriff's office so they could put a name to him. So our police never caught him.
Speaker 1:Was he a resident of Mexico?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, of Mexico. He traveled back and forth. That was his thing. He was illegal and he'd been in jail several times in Mexico. They didn't keep him. They never kept him very long because Mexican jails get crowded and they let him go. I don't know if he ever got caught in Mexico or not, got caught in Mexico or not. Again, the detectives said he traveled regularly between Mexico and the southeast area of the United States and that included Louisiana. He matched DNA in Louisiana and Florida, so he was a real traveler. So I just hope really that this can empower women to report this stuff. Don't let it go. I even called the judge over the weekend, that Sunday. I told him what happened. I said, but I can do jury duty tomorrow. He's like no, you can't, you're staying home and you're dismissed. And I called my boss that Sunday and told her what happened briefly and she's like no, you're on leave.
Speaker 1:Do you live with fear that he would come back, but how? Also the greatest justice I'm thinking and I could definitely be wrong, please correct me would be in capturing him and putting him in jail or whatever the sentence is. And that didn't happen for you, right?
Speaker 2:And I'm hoping to get some kind of closure with this podcast because it has been that long. And yes, I lived in fear. The media were out of control after this. They wanted me to go on TV with my face blackened out. I wouldn't do it, but I gave a good description of the guy. It did make the papers and they hounded the gate. I lived with my friend for a couple of weeks and when the media wouldn't let up, I moved out of her place. I went back to my apartment. A couple weeks later I got some clothes and I stayed with a friend of mine that lived in a nearby town, who was just as gracious as you could believe. I was very fortunate there, but I did not go home. Luckily, my dog was not harmed.
Speaker 1:Did you ever go back? Yep, and you lived there.
Speaker 2:I did. I moved the furniture around, I cleaned the carpet. I couldn't afford to move.
Speaker 1:Was it triggering?
Speaker 2:Yes, how did you deal with that? Well, I was going through counseling and if I hadn't been going through counseling, frankly I wouldn't have been able to do it. You know, she walked me through what I could do. My parents offered for me to move back in with them, but that I didn't feel was an option. Number one, it was 20 miles away from my job, more away from my job. And number two, I felt like I needed to face it. You know, I felt like I needed to face it. You know, I didn't sleep. I was on medication for a while to sleep.
Speaker 2:I got an alarm system within two weeks after I was back into the apartment, a full-fledged alarm system on every window, every door. Even my neighbors could hear the alarm if it was set off. I had an outdoor horn, so I felt safer. The media knew that. It was back in the corner of the complex and I even had a guy with a camera following me into my apartment saying do you know who it was? Do you know who it was? Which apartment was it? I'm like I don't know, I don't know. Leave her alone.
Speaker 1:As a woman of faith.
Speaker 2:did you ever ask God why did you let this happen to me? I did, and the answer that I eventually got I meditated on it, I prayed about it was that he knew he was with me, he gave me the strength to get out when I could get out and to think logically, and that my faith was going to grow stronger and that I would become a stronger person. That's what I got from my prayer Many, many, many prayers.
Speaker 1:And how long did it take you to get that message?
Speaker 2:Almost a year. Luckily, I had a counselor that was also a woman of faith. We prayed before every session. I saw her for two years. Afterwards. She extended my counseling because she knew I needed it. I thank God for her every day. She's still working at the same place at the Crisis Center. I love her.
Speaker 1:There are lots of angels on earth, aren't there?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, there are. My friend was an angel and I told her that. You know, when I moved here and I found out she was so close by, we connected and she came for lunch and we talked about it and she said I was the person you needed at that point in time and I was there and God knew it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. How do you feel?
Speaker 2:Relieved right now Relieved, much calmer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was actually going to ask you because, while I don't record video, like we can see each other and I can see when you speak that you are literally back in. What are you going to do now for the rest of the day to heal the emotional memories, everything that you have just been through?
Speaker 2:been through. I'm going to use the morning to meditate about it and pray about it. Maybe let all my critters mingle and watch them a little bit, and I'll probably find some release in my artwork this afternoon.
Speaker 1:Yes, you are a beautiful artist and I think that is another gift from God, and I think, in all honesty, when it comes to angels on earth, I think we are given gifts in different ways. I agree when I look at you, I see an angel who God has bestowed this beautiful spirit upon. No matter what you have been through, you have persevered through it, you have leaned into God for strength and he gave you this beautiful ability to draw and paint, and you share that with others generously. I do, yes, you do, and that is a beautiful thing because, like you said earlier, you could have lived in darkness, right?
Speaker 2:I could have curled up like in fetal position and not said anything or, you know, not let the police know exactly what happened, or I could have gone on television. But I knew a lot of people, since I worked in one city and lived in another and I had friends in both areas and you know it was in all the newspapers and I figured that was enough public media. But I didn't want to curl up and just ignore it like it didn't happen, I imagine. Frankly, I'd like to think he got caught and if he didn't get caught, then with the uptake and deportations now he's going to get caught now and I have faith in that and I'm just grateful that God has been with me. I couldn't have gotten through it without God. I just could not.
Speaker 1:Do you find solace in knowing that you are not alone.
Speaker 2:I do and I've spoken to women one-on-one many, many times. I haven't gone through the details on one, many, many times I haven't gone through the details, but I have spoken to women one on one about their reactions and they don't want to talk about it and they don't want to go for counseling. They're like I'll handle it on my own. You can't At least that's my experience. You just can't At least that's my experience. You just can't do it on your own, you know, and admitting that you can't do it on your own is half the battle. Absolutely Finding a therapist is the second part. Once you start opening up to a therapist, the sooner the better.
Speaker 1:And how has sharing today helped in your healing process.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think it's especially after thinking about it during the day and meditating this morning and this afternoon. I think it's going to become my closure on the incident. Every year I have had those nightmares. It starts in mid-March and lasts until through April. I've had to have medication to calm down the nightmares. I want to be off that medication. I don't want to take it next year. I don't want to take it anytime. You know, I just don't.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes when I see you, we pray. Would it bring a lot of comfort to you if you said a prayer and we prayed together for all of those who either have shared their voice or are stuck in the darkness, not sure what to do, or maybe don't believe in God. Can we say prayer, sure?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Father God, thank you for this outlet, thank you for Jennifer, thank you for the release that I've been offered the opportunity to have today. Thank you that it will help women of all sizes, shapes, colors, faiths to come forward with their stories. It is cathartic, it is releasing, and we thank you for the opportunity. But, jesus, I couldn't have made it through without you, knowing that your hand is on my shoulder, knowing it will be forever. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen Trace. Before we go today, is there any final message you would like to share with the women and the men who are suffering?
Speaker 2:Yes, I'd like for them to feel empowered. I don't want them to feel like they are victims for the rest of their lives. Victimhood is a mindset. Feel empowered to go forward, tell your story and move on, with God behind you, guiding in front of you, guiding you. Take that as a solace that he's always there.
Speaker 1:Teresa, thank you for those words of encouragement and inspiration. Thank you for being my guest today on the I Need Blue podcast.
Speaker 2:You're very welcome. Thank you for having me, of course.
