In the last few weeks or so, images of Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner have become as ubiquitous as eye floaters. And perhaps that’s part of the strategy of the myriad social deconstructionists among us. After seeing scores of similar airbrushed photos of this man with red lips and extended eyelashes, pain rises to the surface for families who have lived with this type of turmoil. Before long, society becomes so accustomed to the images that, just like floaters, we’re likely to forget they’re there — until someone mentions them.

So here I am mentioning them — the images, not the floaters. I want to prevent that desensitization. I want us to remember the person behind the images. I also want us to remember the people whose lives are intimately connected to the person behind the images. Remembering is easy for me. Every time I see an image of Jenner — new or old  — I can’t help but remember my own father, before and after.

You see, when I was just 9 years old, my father took me aside and made me the confidant of his deep, dark secret. He wanted to — and planned to — “become a woman.” My pre-adolescent mind was incapable of processing such a revelation. For years, I was emotionally stunted. It was only through faith in Christ, stirred in me first by my mother and then by my husband, that I was able to find my way out and begin to grow again.

As I see stories of Bruce Jenner’s daughters and stepdaughters — stories nearly as abundant as the stories and images of their father — I see them going through what I went through. But I fear they have no faith supporters like I had. As a teenager, I felt guilty that I had matured naturally, developing the body my father so desperately longed to have for himself. For a while, I tried to cope with the guilt and confusion through binge drinking and other self-destructive behaviors. I foresee the possibility of Bruce’s daughters trying to cope through similarly self-destructive behaviors.

Through it all, my mother forced herself to be outwardly strong for the sake of her children. But the lies, the deceit, the rejection and the abandonment all caused her both emotional pain and affected her health — and serious financial ordeals she had to wade through. Just as I felt I’d lost my dad, she felt she’d lost her husband, the man who had pledged decades before to stay by her side, for better or worse, until death.

Perhaps, in a distorted sense, he did keep his pledge, for as far as he and his family were concerned, Harold did die. And, let me tell you, as hard as it is to lose a spouse or a parent, it’s even harder when that spouse or parent chooses to die to his family.

And well-meaning neighbors didn’t help when we’d meet them in the grocery store and they’d ask, “How’s Harold … or Becky? I mean, is he … she doing okay?” I wanted to shout back, “What about Mom and me and my brothers and sisters? Do you care how we’re doing? Do you care that the dad I knew is dying, by choice, and leaving us? My dad is getting what he wants, or thinks he wants, and he has left us to pick up the pieces. Does that matter to you?”

Dad did get what he wanted. Harold became “Becky” and left my mom to have relationships with men. Years later, when Mom asked him if he was happy with his choice, he candidly replied, “It didn’t bring me the satisfaction I thought it would.”

I’ve often wondered, if he had his life to live over again, would he make the same choice? He lived a sad, confused and lonely life after he left his family for an illusion that could not become a reality.

Families like mine feel like they have been hit emotionally by a Mack truck and become numb. Their bodies ache from grief. Wives deeply mourn a deep loss of their spouse. Children mourn the loss of a parent. Parents mourn the loss of a child they gave birth to, and grandchildren lose out, as well. Some families suffer from emotional distress, such as panic attacks, and sometimes suicidal thoughts. Yet the culture insinuates the family members are being selfish for not embracing our loved one who is transitioning from his or her biological, God-given sex.

Among the countless recent articles about Bruce/Caitlyn, I read one in which “Caitlyn has already admitted that, after he had ‘facial feminization’ surgery, he had a panic attack, looking in the mirror and asking, ‘What did I just do to myself?’”

The subject of those floater-like ubiquitous images and stories is deep confusion. He needs help to overcome his confusion, not enablers to help him indulge his chaotic fantasies. He needs to hear the truth. Overcoming his fantasies will not be easy. But it is possible through Christ Jesus. God is in the business of healing hurting people like Bruce. (Yes, he is Bruce. Surgery might alter some of his flesh, but inside he will always be Bruce Jenner, the man God created him to be.)

Generally, eye floaters are easily overlooked as we go about our daily routines. But we dare not overlook some of these cultural floaters increasingly filling our field of vision. To do so is to overlook the collapse of families as the bedrock of our society.

Humanity is making a mockery of the Creator. Instead of accepting God’s design, man is deciding for himself what sex he will be. Ultimately, he is trying to become his own creator. This is an act of rebellion at the deepest core. We are witnessing a culture shift that is determined to destroy God’s image of male and female. It is an issue of the heart.

Denise Shick is author of My Daddy’s Secret, When Hope Seems Lost and Understanding Gender Confusion.

She serves on the academic council of the International Children's Rights Institute and co-authored an amicus brief against same-sex “marriage.” Denise directs the Help 4 Families Ministry.