Yesterday, my friend told me a story that I hope I will
remember forever. I should warn you,
that the details are not pleasant, but my focus is not on that, but on the
attitude of the one who gave the testimony.
During the Sunday service, my friend noted that the praise
and worship leader was particularly enthusiastic in her praise. She was a woman
without shame, praising God with abandonment.
She didn’t seem to care who heard, or who saw or better yet who
cared. She was focused on God and
praised him with loud cheers of Amen and Hallelujahs. At the end of the Pastor’s sermon, she came
to the podium and decided to give an explanation for her praise. Not that she needed to explain it, as I
believe that is between her and God.
However, she gave her testimony, and I have benefitted because of it.
She told the church that some time ago, she was abducted
from her driveway by a man. He held a gun to her head and drove her back in her
car to a location that was unfamiliar to her.
He beat her, until there was blood everywhere. In her car, her radio brought through the
invisible waves the lyrics of a song writer’s glory to God. He told her to turn it off as that would not
help her. But throughout his beating and rape of her body, her mind sent
prayers to God. She asked Him to help
her. This man told her he was going to kill her, and he wore no disguise as he
knew she would not be alive to identify him.
But she kept praying; she even pleaded with him, telling him he doesn’t have
to do this.
At one point she had the gun in her hand, and could have
killed him easily. But a peace that
surely surpasses understanding told her no. God’s voice said he needs Jesus too
and if you take his life then that opportunity would never come for him. That would be it. [Friends, there is no hope after the grave,
no matter how much prayers you pray for the ones that have passed on already. The
dead cannot accept Christ or receive pardon…it is the cry of too late from the
coffin]. She didn’t kill him and he didn’t
kill her. Instead he let her go. Sadly
he had already carried out his violent act against her, but he did not commit
murder. She was in the middle of
nowhere. She screamed her help, but none came to assist. She could see people in
the distance, but they could not see her.
He had taken her phone, wallet and car keys and she was stranded and
hurt in a place she didn’t know.
Then he returned. I
imagined how her heart must have raced seeing him again. But he did something
unexpected. He gave her back the things he took and gave her directions to get
out of where she was. Is that not
God? Is that not our holy God? She knows why she praises him like a woman
gone mad, because of what he did for her. She didn’t become bitter, nor did she
denounce God for not sparing her from the hardship of the experience, she
turned all of that into praise. She glorified him for saving her life, when she
would have been dead. When evil came to destroy
her, God was with her and gave her His comfort.
What trials and hardship are you facing? Have you also been such a woman, raped and
beaten and left for dead? Have you been
a victim of some other evil? Maybe it is
not as horrific, but for you it is just as life changing, is that you? Maybe, it is the everyday stresses of life –
financial woes, wayward kids, family out of control, does that describe you? Whatever you are going through, I urge you to
trust God. I urge you to offer him shouts of praise and new songs for His
glory. I invite you to join in the
shouts of many women all over this globe, linking faith to faith in a world
that is harsh and at times so dark it seems hopeless. Let us remind ourselves
of what he has done when we feel it is not enough. Women, be encouraged today for the battle
still belongs to God.
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