This weekend I met a lady who at 18 years old was abducted by a young man who had a .357 magnum pistol and a box cutter. He brutally raped her, and then tried to murder her, leaving what he thought was her dead body in a shallow grave covered with leaves, but somehow she survived and crawled out of that grave and found help.
Today she is a beautiful and very talented Nashville singer, songwriter, and musician. She is also someone who volunteers for the Bill Glass Weekends of Champions prison ministry at every opportunity.
Somehow God eventually enabled her to forgive her assailant and not only that, but to develop a burden for those who are incarcerated in prisons all over the country and do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
It’s amazing to me how God can transform us and remove the bitterness and desire for vengeance. Most folks want to see those who have broken the law and caused harm and suffering to pay dearly, (especially when it happens to them).
She and I worked a women’s prison together and she related her very personal story about her ordeal to several women inmates, and then she told them about a more recent tragedy that is currently unfolding in her life. Her husband and stepson, (unbeknownst to her), have been engaged in the worst type of vile criminal activity that there is for quite some time. She went home one day to find several federal agents in her driveway who were there to arrest her husband and stepson. It was personally devastating and especially heartbreaking since she didn’t have a clue that anything like that could have been going on.
They were both arrested and carted off to jail while she stood in her driveway and watched her family destroyed and she cried her heart out. Her stepson was sentenced to eight years in prison just prior to her coming to the Atlanta event. He could have gotten 400 years.
It was difficult listening and seeing her grief and raw emotion as she cried and sobbed while relating her story. I could feel the gut wrenching pain, grief, heartache, and sorrow.
Why does one person who is trying to do the right thing have to endure so much anguish and tragedy?
Hmmm… The Bible is unclear on that, but it does say that no one will ever have more put on them then they are capable of withstanding. While this may sound easier to say than do, personally I think the key to success in this area is to take our eyes off ourselves and our own troubles, and turn it towards the work of the Lord.
This weekend she and I and 240 other teammates went into 8 prison units in the Atlanta, GA area and spent two days witnessing to them about how Jesus can change their lives if they will just allow Him into their hearts. 2,573 inmates ended up making decisions to follow Christ with 1,352 first time decisions!
If you are sitting around feeling sorry for yourself these days, you might think about this lady and how she is approaching dealing with her serious and tragic problems. Her personal testimony led several of those ladies to the Lord.
Some day she will arrive in heaven and those ladies and others will greet her and thank her. They will celebrate together in heaven forever in a perfect place where there will never be tears or sadness.
Most of us would have been having a little pity party for ourselves and saying, “Woe is me”. She is my hero for the week and I hope this story is inspiring to you. Focus on God and not yourself and see if sadness doesn’t melt away and turn into peace, joy, and love that the evil in this world simply cannot defeat.
We have victory in Jesus, our Savior forever…
Selah…
Matt. 25:36
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.