My journey began January 11, 1979. Some would say it was a true Leave it to Beaver childhood, and I can agree with that, but even those who grow up in a seemingly blissful home, can and will go through many trials and tribulations…. That’s life.

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A Loving Family and Valuable Lessons

I had the best, most caring parents (mama has gone on to be with Jesus and dad is still here with me). They worked their tails off to instill such morals and values, I can even remember eating dinner as a family, where dad would make a big deal out of our elbows on the table. Making a big deal in my young mind was simply stating,

“Jen or Adam, elbows are not to be on the table while eating. It is disrespectful.”

It obviously had an influence on us because today, you will not see either my or my brother’s elbows on the table while eating.

That is just a small example of how hard my parents worked to bring me and Adam up in the best way, teaching us all the proper behaviors, habits, and traits they could.

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Mama’s Message of Kindness

Mama wanted us to be kind to every single person we encountered, no matter their age, color, beauty or lack thereof, she taught Adam and I and would often say,

“Do unto others as you would have done to you.”

It resonated with us both. Adam and I have always had the reputation of treating others with kindness and without judgement, heck, just a few months ago, I received the “Kindness of the Month” award at work for treating everyone, staff and inmates alike with total respect.

That’s completely from my mama’s teachings and how grateful I am she instilled such an important trait in me to shine upon others.

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From Innocence to Pain

Now, let’s get into a few of those “not so great” experiences, where I can very transparently tell you about a few of my beauty from ashes, what I deem to be my personal testimony.

I was around six years old, and my mom was into fitness. She would go to the local gym to get a workout in, no harm there. I’m not sure why, but this one day, she had the boy across the street babysit me, only for a few hours, and we had known this family for years.

I don’t recall his name; I know his little brother’s name was Tommy. I was at the age of enjoying cartoons, so when “he” got to the house, I explained how I was excited to watch my favorite shows while mom was at the gym.

He decided to bargain with me, saying, “yes, you can watch cartoons, if you do x, y, & z.” I will not go into specifics, but you get the gist. We headed back to my bedroom, and he molested me.

Whew, these are not easy experiences to write about, but necessary, no doubt. “He” walked out of the bedroom, and I closed the door and locked it as soon as he left. I very vividly remember him asking me from the other side of the door to please unlock the door and say he would call my mom if I didn’t open it. Of course, I believe today, I was thinking, please call my mom, that is no threat, but my saving grace.

He did eventually call the gym to get my mom home, but not without telling me from the other side of the door that he would in fact hurt my family if I ever told anyone what he had done.

Mama came home and I unlocked the door. Truthfully, I don’t remember the “untrue” story I told my mom as to why I locked myself in the bedroom, I believe I said he wouldn’t let me watch the cartoons I wanted to watch, so I got mad and did what I did.

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Grace in the Middle of Trauma

And here is where Jesus came to the rescue. With God’s amazing grace, I was able to block every piece of that horrifying day out of my mind, until I was sixteen years old.

I don’t have any answers as to why this disgusting thing happened to me, but I do know that at sixteen years old, I was mature enough to deal with it. I can only give the glory to God for allowing my little six-year-old brain to block out an event that could have destroyed not only me, but my family too, as who knows if the boy would have kept to his word and hurt my family, as he said he would.

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Healing Through Faith and Counseling

Mom and dad immediately got me into counseling, and throughout those sessions, I was able to forgive and move on.

Counseling: by the way, was based on Christian principles and ideals, always utilizing scripture for healing. It was important for me to understand, these battles are of a spiritual nature, our fleshly desires will continuously be in opposition to our spiritual ones.

In other words, the enemy’s desire is to keep me in bondage (feeding into my flesh), continuously focusing on the hurt and anger of the past, whereas, looking to Jesus, I was able to be so grateful for His mercy and His ability to keep any thoughts of that day away during my childhood.

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The Power of Forgiveness and God’s Justice

Growing in Christ, through the years, I now understand that the babysitter was lost, and most importantly that God’s word tells us very clearly,

He is the righteous judge, and vengeance is His, not mine to repay (Romans 12: 19-21).

I take such solace in that truth. And throughout many other instances in life where I have been hurt by others, His truth has one hundred percent prevailed (when I have listened and not reacted on my own account).

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A Closing Word of Hope

Loved one, we are not and will never be perfect. When we mess up, we learn, and we move on. But, in those subservient moments when we go to the throne and give our concerns to Him,

He will always come through, as His word says He will (1 Peter 5:7).

Enjoy the additional encouragement in song. Click the link to hear the song pertaining to this week’s message of hope: If you want me to by Ginny Owens