There was a young girl. Typical. Slender. Freckles. Nothing too extraordinary. She's sitting in a cold, dark, sterile room. Tear stained she lies in a broken heap on the cement floor. Her clothing is torn. Her eyes are red. She longs for sleep that she cant seem to find. Opening her eyes, she starts to look around. She sees where she is, and its not where she wants to be. She's tired of this darkness. Tired of the cold. She searches for light. First she turns to religion, but it only makes her numb for a while. She turns to friends, but even they 
cant penetrate that deep. She turns to immoral relationships. For a while, they seem to work, but they only bring more pain, more worthlessness, and always leave her feeling unclean and unsatisfied. She tries academics, but always seems to come up short. Nothing feels right. Everything within her screams "There must be so much more!" but that something never comes. By looking at her, one would never guess this dark, barren wasteland to be her home. Even though she leaves everyday, she puts on a smile and tries her best, that dark room is all there ever is to come home to. Less like a home, more like a dungeon, this is where she spends her time. She thinks she needs more. More friends, more makeup, more relationships, more free time, but all the 'mores' make her feel like she is even less in comparison. What she really needs, is a rescue.
Each day, her room seems darker and colder. By now, she is completely numb. She does not see this place for what it is anymore. She has spent so long here that she is mentally blinded and cannot recognize how far away she is from where she ought to be. Like a boat off course and adrift at sea, she does not understand that she is straying so far. She doesn't see how badly she needs this rescue. The darkness has become pitch black and she cries at night, not knowing why. Finally in an attempt to free herself, she cries out for help.
And help comes.
A man, the hero of the story, enters. Dressed in all white, he approaches this girl. Kneeling down he wiped the tears from her eyes, cleans the dirt from her face and lets her trade her dirty rags for an elegant gown. She has forgotten what it was like to feel beautiful. The man opens his arms and just holds her. What was this strange feeling? What was this warmth? She can literally feel his love pouring over her. He looks straight into her wide green eyes and says, "My child, I've pulled you out of your dark cellar. I've cleaned you and made you mine. You're perfect. You're mine. I love you."
Tears well up in her eyes and flow down her once more. This time, tears of joy.
cant penetrate that deep. She turns to immoral relationships. For a while, they seem to work, but they only bring more pain, more worthlessness, and always leave her feeling unclean and unsatisfied. She tries academics, but always seems to come up short. Nothing feels right. Everything within her screams "There must be so much more!" but that something never comes. By looking at her, one would never guess this dark, barren wasteland to be her home. Even though she leaves everyday, she puts on a smile and tries her best, that dark room is all there ever is to come home to. Less like a home, more like a dungeon, this is where she spends her time. She thinks she needs more. More friends, more makeup, more relationships, more free time, but all the 'mores' make her feel like she is even less in comparison. What she really needs, is a rescue.Each day, her room seems darker and colder. By now, she is completely numb. She does not see this place for what it is anymore. She has spent so long here that she is mentally blinded and cannot recognize how far away she is from where she ought to be. Like a boat off course and adrift at sea, she does not understand that she is straying so far. She doesn't see how badly she needs this rescue. The darkness has become pitch black and she cries at night, not knowing why. Finally in an attempt to free herself, she cries out for help.
And help comes.
A man, the hero of the story, enters. Dressed in all white, he approaches this girl. Kneeling down he wiped the tears from her eyes, cleans the dirt from her face and lets her trade her dirty rags for an elegant gown. She has forgotten what it was like to feel beautiful. The man opens his arms and just holds her. What was this strange feeling? What was this warmth? She can literally feel his love pouring over her. He looks straight into her wide green eyes and says, "My child, I've pulled you out of your dark cellar. I've cleaned you and made you mine. You're perfect. You're mine. I love you."
Tears well up in her eyes and flow down her once more. This time, tears of joy.
This is real. This is love.
This is ME.
This is my story. My past. Sure, the details were a little creative, but the story all true. I was the girl. I was broken. I was lost. I was hurt. I was saved by the Lamb of God.
My life was in this dark place, though I didn't realize it. So caught up in life, I kept busy during the day only to return to tears and tiredness at night. I searched in religion, but found that it was only dead and didn't make a difference. I needed relationship with God.
I searched in friends, but found many were shallow and temporary. I needed intimacy with God.
I searched in relationships and ended up doing a lot of things I regret. I was hurt and stupid. I needed to love God.
I searched in academics, but ended up not too perfect and always burnt out. I needed to find my place in God.
This is ME.
This is my story. My past. Sure, the details were a little creative, but the story all true. I was the girl. I was broken. I was lost. I was hurt. I was saved by the Lamb of God.
My life was in this dark place, though I didn't realize it. So caught up in life, I kept busy during the day only to return to tears and tiredness at night. I searched in religion, but found that it was only dead and didn't make a difference. I needed relationship with God.
I searched in friends, but found many were shallow and temporary. I needed intimacy with God.
I searched in relationships and ended up doing a lot of things I regret. I was hurt and stupid. I needed to love God.
I searched in academics, but ended up not too perfect and always burnt out. I needed to find my place in God.
For years I wasted away in a life that was not even worth living. It was without purpose and direction until God came in a radically changed everything I thought I knew. I thought I had dreams, but they were empty. I thought I felt fine, but I knew that it was only my imagination speaking. I thought I had it all together, but I was nothing more than a beautiful mess. I lived purely for myself, my life, my future, my needs. I found that in living for myself, I never got anything for myself, or for others. I thought that I had a relationship with God, but all I truly had was dead religion. I was still in the darkness, tricking myself to believe I was walking in light. When God came along and rescued me out of my dark situation, I was radically shaken to be so much more. I gave up hobbies, friends and even my lifelong dreams so that I could pursue the things of God. He gave me renewed passion, deeper relationships and dreamed up dreams far greater than anything I could possibly hope for. Now all that I desire to do is to share this love that I have with my Savior and my God with the world.
As a Christian, it is so easy to forget sometimes the place God brings us out of. Now that I have become a daughter of the King, I brush off the rags of my old life as though I never needed a rescue at all. It is so important that we never forget where God brings us from. How quickly to we brush off remembering how much God truly loves us and all that He has done just so that we can get on with the rest of our day? How often are we blinded to the suffering world around us? How often do we lack compassion?For my life, I always want to be out there getting my hands dirty. I don't mean to say that we ought to slip back into our old rags and begin to live life in darkness once more. What I mean to say is that Christians ought to get out into the world and start getting our hands dirty by wiping the dirty blinders off the eyes of this world. We are the world's light. Its time that we get out there, start sharing out testimony, and start spreading the Gospel wherever we go.
So yes, this was my story. This is what my God did in my life. This is why I get up in the morning. This isn't the end of my story either. I pray that each and every day, God sees my life as a love story that He continues to write. There is a story written about your life. Is there a rescue? Is it exciting? Will it be worth telling one day? I know that mine will be. Can you say the same?
