On The Dance Floor With God: Hope and Healing Post Narcissistic Abuse

For thirty-seven years, Gabriella C. Warner lived behind a wall she built to survive first as a daughter in an abusive home, then as the wife of a narcissistic, alcoholic husband. She knew something was deeply wrong. She also knew the wall protecting her heart was slowly swallowing her whole.Then came golf and dance.On the fairways and the dance floor, Gabriella quietly watched how other people lived with laughter, freedom, and love she had never known. Through the unlikely grace of these two gifts, God began opening doors she never knew existed, leading her out of the grip of abuse and into a life of healing, faith, and joy. On the golf course she learned to observe and absorb a life unknown to her. On the dance floor she discovered what it felt like to be led with gentleness, to move in trust, and to experience joy in her own body for the first time.In her own words:"Christmas Eve was a very long day. I cooked all day without any help, he kept coming in the room and staring at me and walking out... He was angry and told me I wasn't allowed to have dinner because I invited my family."I spent my life trying to be better at everything, thinking if only I could do it right, people would not get mad at me all the time. I spent my life trying harder and failing every time.Yet I have learned there is hope. I don't have to be perfect. And I am learning, through God's direction, about love, life, joy and of course, golf and dance.