Purpose in the fight...

    As a young girl, Leslie’s life was filled with abuse, rejection and violence. She became angry at God because He didn’t stop the abuse. At the age of fifteen, she was kidnapped by her boyfriend, an older man, and forced into sex trafficking. She was told that if she tried to get out, various members of her family including herself would be killed. She reached the point of taking pills to numb her pain. 
    When her pimp was arrested ten years later, she continued prostituting herself.  She went on to harder drugs and became addicted to crack cocaine. She simply wanted the pain to stop since the older she got the stronger the pain became. She finally tried to end her life by taking pills with alcohol. As she felt herself dying, she cried out to God and felt something hug her tightly. She saw it as the hug she never got as a child. At that point, she realised that God was real and that He cared. 
    The next day she enrolled in a thirty-day detox centre and was able to stop using drugs. She then went to a Christian women’s shelter where she spent the next year learning from the Bible about her identity and purpose and how to love herself. She learned her purpose was to take care of other people so she got involved in home health care. While there, one of her patients who had Alzheimer’s disease and who never spoke, unexpectedly told her one day that she had to pray for them. She knew exactly what she meant. She had to forgive those who had hurt her in order to release herself. She also had to ask God for forgiveness.
    She has gone on to help other women by launching a program for sexually exploited women. She realises that God allowed her to go through all that she went through so that she could in turn help other women get out. She is now married and understands who she is. As she put it: “When I look in the mirror I see a powerful woman of God. I see a warrior, I see a fighter, I see me, and I know who I am.
    I love this story because it speaks of the fight that we all go through at some point in time or another. The fight may not be the same as Leslie’s but it’s a battle nonetheless that seems overwhelming and may cause us to feel trapped. We may even wonder: “How long Lord?” as the battle may seem never-ending. 
    In Psalm 13:1 David says: “How long Oh Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” Sometimes we may feel that God is taking a long time to answer. We may even resort to other sources of help in our desperation. I like the fact that Leslie said that God allowed her to go through so that she could help others get out. Maybe God even allowed her to go through for as long as she did so that, as she put it, she could understand the fight and so be able to help others. When we go through we are in a better position to help others. Our fight, our negative situation is not in vain. It has a purpose. Her fight also helped her understand her identity. It taught her that she might be knocked down many times but not knocked out. With God’s help she understood and appreciated who she is and that God does indeed care.
    Whatever you might be going through, your fight has a purpose, you have a purpose. The enemy may mean for it to destroy you but God will use it to strengthen you and define you, to make you into a powerful vessel He can use for His honour and glory.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. There is no battle or challenge that you will face that God will not enable you to handle. No matter how long it takes, God will answer and He will use that battle for good, to fulfil His purpose for your life.​

---