10/14/2026
🌿 5 Practical Ways to Honor Parents Who Hurt You
How do you honor your father and mother when they were the very people who caused you pain?
For adults who experienced childhood abuse, neglect, or abandonment, the Fifth Commandment can feel confusing—even impossible.
But here's an important biblical truth:
Honoring your parents does not mean excusing their behavior, denying your pain, or allowing continued mistreatment.
So what can honoring them actually look like?
🌿 1. Tell the Truth. Acknowledge what happened without minimizing the harm. Honor and honesty can coexist.
🌿 2. Establish Healthy Boundaries. You can recognize your parents' God-given role without giving them unlimited access to your life. Boundaries are not dishonor.
🌿 3. Pray for Them. Prayer doesn't excuse wrongdoing. It invites God's intervention while helping us surrender what we cannot control.
🌿 4. Release the Desire for Revenge. Pursuing justice is not the same as seeking vengeance. We can entrust ultimate justice to God without abandoning accountability.
🌿 5. Choose Healing and Break the Cycle. You don't have to repeat the destructive patterns you experienced. Through Christ, you can pursue healing and build healthier relationships.
Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation. Honor does not require silence. And healing does not require pretending the past never happened.
At Fig Tree Therapy, we believe biblical truth and clinical understanding can work together to help individuals find healing, hope, and wholeness.
In our latest blog, Stephanie Boarman, MS, Resident in Counseling, explores what it means to honor parents who have caused deep wounds—and how we can walk in obedience to God without sacrificing truth or safety.
đź“– Read the full article:
https://figtreetherapy.com/how-do-you-honor-parents-who-hurt-you
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