Strength in Scars

"One night my roommate, her friend Angie, and I decided to go dancing at a place just off the base. I will just say, soldiers can drink some alcohol, and female soldiers can too. We didn’t have much else to do in the desert. We went to this place we had been to a couple of times and sat down. Up walked two soldiers who knew Angie, and they ordered us a pitcher of beer.
I remember one of their faces vaguely. I also remember waking up naked, cold, and in a lot of pain. I had the worst headache I have ever experienced to this day. I didn’t know where I was. Then I saw my roommate on the kitchen floor in the same condition. I couldn’t tell if she was even alive until I woke her up, and her head was also pounding. She too was covered in bruises. I asked her where we were, and she said she was not sure but that it looked like Jessica’s apartment. I also asked her if she knew how we got there, and she said no.
Jessica herself has no idea how we got there in her car. We all talked about how much we’d had to drink. It was less than two drinks each. We all had been drugged and raped. We talked briefly about what we should do. We knew that to say anything would be the absolute end of our military careers, and I could not risk that for my boys’ sakes. Women don’t tell these things in the military unless they want to be labeled a threat and treated like an outcast.
We all decided not to say anything. I was angry and in pain. I went to the hospital, and they gave me a shot for the headache. I went back to my room in the barracks and slept the rest of the weekend. I was still angry. This was a breakthrough. This time, I didn’t blame myself. This one took a toll on me on a serious emotional level. It was as if it totally brought all the other events to the surface all at once."

Trigger Warning: If you are undergoing therapy for past or current abuse of any kind, please ask your mental healthcare provider before reading this book as it may very well stir up some of these emotions. The goal of this book is to help not hurt.

This is not just our story; the Lord can turn anyone's pain into purpose or mess into his message, He has been doing this for many years. This is because we have the ability after the beautiful redemptive work of Jesus's intervention to tell others from a very real place how he has pulled us through from victim to victor. I am here today to tell you since he did it for us, for me, for my parents, for my children, that he absolutely can and will for you. BELIEVE THAT. We are all living proof that this is indeed possible. Jesus won the victory, now CHOOSE to conceive, believe and receive this in your own life.