I grew up in America in a Christian home. At the age of 6 I was baptized; however, I didn’t truly know what a relationship with God meant until 2006 when God called my family into the mission field. We moved over to Europe for a 9 month training course then headed to Africa. It was extremely difficult to live in a minuscule village where next to no one spoke English or had never heard of the one true God. I had to put my trust in God every day. I struggled greatly with living in a place where if I even stuck my head out of my bedroom window people would point and laugh. I asked God every day to give me strength and to help me love these people that He loves so deeply.

About 14 months after we moved to Africa I was sexually abused twice by natives. My life and family’s life crumbled. How could God send me to a place where I could get hurt like that! I was 12 years old! Did He not love me? If He is truly with me all the time and will protect me, why didn’t he stop those men from touching me? Did I do something wrong, was that punishment? I had giving up everything in my life to come share His amazing love with these pagan people, and this is what happened. 9 months later we moved out of Africa. I was a mess! I felt alone and empty. When we got back to America I went through a horrifically painful process of healing and trusting in God. But how could God’s perfect plan for my life fit into what has happened? If He really loved me He wouldn’t have let that happen.

However after months of Christian counseling I still wasn’t really healing from all the hurt and pain inside. I then realized that there was a hole in my heart and I couldn’t feel complete without putting my full trust in God. As I looked back on what happened I realized that God had a plan for everything. I knew that He was in control, but I hadn’t been believing it. I praise God for His love for me! He was so faithful through all of my pain. It’s hard when your in extremely difficult situations to trust that it’s for your ultimate gain. The things I’ve learnt from that life experience are priceless.

Even though those 2 years were the toughest of my life so far, I wouldn’t change them for anything. The Bible verse that got me through it all is Jeremiah 29 v 11-13 which reads: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

God has been so faithful to me. God has taken what satan wanted to destroy me with, and used it for good and the benefit of my life and walk with Him. My dream is to work with young mothers or women who have been through sexually abusive situations and help them find the ultimate healer and best friend!