[Content Warning]: This episode contains references to the sexual and physical abuse discussed in Part One, brief descriptions of a dangerous winter escape, and Elishaba’s description of suicidal thoughts during a difficult period of years after leaving. It also includes later discussion of divorce and a serious cancer diagnosis.

When we left Elishaba Doerksen at the end of Part One, she had just made the hardest decision of her life: to run.

In Part Two, she picks up the story; a harrowing escape across thirty-below wilderness, a police report that finally ended her father’s control over the family, and the long, unglamorous work of healing that followed. Elishaba talks openly about the years it took to unlearn what she’d been taught, a marriage that echoed some of the same patterns of control, becoming a mother and learning what love actually felt like, a cancer diagnosis that reordered her priorities, and the day she finally stood at her father’s grave and said the words "I forgive you."

This is the second half of a story that doesn’t wrap up neatly — because real healing rarely does. It’s also, in Elishaba’s own words, full of hope.

Elishaba is the author of Out of the Wilderness and now speaks around the world as an advocate for survivors of abuse. If you haven’t heard Part One yet, we’d recommend starting there.

Where To Find Elishaba:
Out of the Wilderness: Escaping My Father's Prison and My Journey to Forgiveness – On Amazon
Insta: @elishabadoerksen

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal ideation, please access the resources below:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call/Text 988
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) : 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Alliance for Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

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