Like many of you, my life has been anything but easy.  I often times joke and say that I wasn’t born under a pew!  I didn’t grow up as a good, Christian girl who stayed sheltered from the world outside.

In fact, my childhood was painful and traumatic.  I was a victim of sexual and verbal abuse growing up and was eventually forced to work in the sex industry at the age of 18.  I married young and my husband was unfaithful multiple times throughout our marriage.

After I met the Lord, my life began to drastically change for the better!  However, I was later diagnosed with cervical cancer and given up to only one year to live.

Life gave me multiple reasons to want to give up.  As I said, it was anything but easy.  I’ve met multiple women who have similar stories and yet they seem to be stuck in the self-destructive cycle of it all.

In order to move through our traumatic experiences into the abundant life God has for us, here are some practical and empowered steps that I’ve found provide incredible results:

• Process Your Pain: One of the greatest disadvantages you can give to yourself is to ignore your pain. If you’ve survived any sort of trauma, it can be easy to stuff the pain deep inside your soul. The problem with this is that pain insists on being felt, so it will creep into our lives in other destructive ways until we really allow ourselves to feel it.  Yes, it’s scary, painful, and intimidating, but I promise you that once you process through your pain, you find freedom on the other side.
• Don’t Go Alone: Processing our pain is crucial for having a victorious life, however it is also important that we invite people into our process. Finding a Holy Spirit filled counselor or friend who is willing to sit down and process with you can be life changing!  This allows us to be fully seen for who we are and also helps expose any lies that the enemy has tried to tell us in our lives.
• Take Ownership: One of the most powerful things I did in my life was to take ownership of my story!  I didn’t allow shame to tell me to hide.  I knew that my life served a bigger purpose and I was determined to see other women get set free from the same bondage I was once in. What fascinated me was whenever I would share my story, numerous women would approach me with very similar experiences!  I don’t believe that the Lord caused any of the trauma and pain that I went through, but I do believe that he took the pain and allowed it to become something that beautifully transforms the world around me.

I want to encourage you in your journey and remind you that you are not alone!   Walking through trauma and pain are no easy tasks, but I believe with everything in me that you have what it takes to persevere.  In your moments of weariness, take hold of the promise God gave in Isaiah 40:31 where He says, “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary.They will walk and not faint.”

Take the steps towards healing and wholeness. It’s totally worth it.