Love Is....

I have lost three close family members to domestic violence. My aunt was murdered when I was 10 by her husband of one month. He stabbed her 28 times no one even knows what the dispute was about. She left a six year old son. My cousin who was like my older sister was murdered when she was 23 year old and I was 20. Three hours before her son's father shot her, my mom and I were at her house and were upset at the huge bruise on her arm. She smiled at us and said he SAID he was sorry.....she left two little girls and a 3 month old son. Two years ago another cousin of mines naked body was left in a wooded area, she was last seen arguing with her off and on long time boyfriend, there has been a couple of arrests but prosecutor seems to have little interest in taking this court to trial. She left two preteen daughters. All of these crimes were committed by men who purported to LOVE them. I always go back to (IMO) the authority on Love, who said:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant (1 Cor. 13:4)...where in there does that leave room for abuse? where does it leave room for murdering the very one you claim to love? My heart goes out to Jennifer Hudson & her family. I am crying the same never ending tears. In one second, some idiot demolished your life as you knew it. And nothing can ever change it back. As time goes on, you build it into something new...something different. Something not quite as good as it was...after all those loved ones are no longer there with you. It never hurts any less...it's just not as close to the surface. But something will remind of that person and even now almost two decades later, the pain of my cousins passing can overwhelm me. I wish I could tell every woman who is with an abusive mate, not to allow him to do to her family what has been done to mine. I wish I could show them all the years of pain and tears that has been inflicted on children who are missing bright smiles and warm hugs of their murdered mothers. I wish I could tell all those abusers, hey we love her too, she doesn't BELONG to you. But I can't. I can only continue to pray for those whose pain I know all too well.