Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

One of our regular staff members at Life Change, told her story about happened to her when she was thirteen. A young man deceived her into following him into a college dorm room to get her a coat because it was chilly outside. Once he got her alone, he raped her and beat her. As a young girl she was so confused about what had just happened to her. Once she got herself off the floor, she didn’t even recognize the person she saw in the mirror. She felt sorry for this bloodied, broken girl. The days that followed were a series of cover-ups by her friend and mother. She went into hiding for several days until the visible evidence was gone. As the outward bruises healed the inward realization of what had happened became a wound that would not heal. To deal with the pain she began to self- medicate through drugs and alcohol. As happens is some cases, the memory of the event became buried. All the effects of a rape victim were in her life, but she could not recall what had happened to her. Her story, as tragic as it is, is way too common among young women. She attended Life Change twice, and it opened the memory of what happened to her. She has been extremely courageous dealing with the pain of her experience. It has brought restoration and healing to many areas of her life. But so many people can't find a path out of the victim role. The wound of victimization becomes more than a single event. It can become a way of thinking, a lens through which the world is viewed. The trauma, rejection and pain, clouds their inner world. Life is seen as a series of things done to them, rather than personal decisions made. The lie is that they are powerless. They are trapped in time by the event of their victimization. It is essential to face the trauma and make a choice to forgive. The only way to truly break this cycle is through forgiveness.