Last night we watched The Chosen Livestream for the kick-off of Season 3 on YouTube. To show the impact the series can have in the lives of any of us who can come to the truth of God, they shared a video of a young woman talking about her life; she was brutally, sexually victimized from the age of 4. It was so difficult to watch.

How can anyone do that to a human being and not feel their pain? How can God allow it? I asked Him that in prayer this morning because it was too painful not to ask. My heart needed help and He’s the only one who can.

The Psalmists asked the same question. How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant? Psalm 94:3.

I don’t know if I will ever understand how human beings, created in the image of God, can abuse other human beings, especially young children, people of any age, and not feel empathy or shame. What did it take to harden their hearts so fully that they are capable of such harm?

The young woman, plunged into a life of sexual slavery, tried several times to escape only to be found and with each return was tattooed with vile sayings, beaten severely…one instance of beating the ER physician saying he had never seen anyone beaten that badly and live.

She didn’t even want to talk about God or be around “Christians” because when she tried to seek help in churches, she was shunned because she was a prostitute, a stripper. To my shame, as I watched her as an adult describing herself in “the life”, I couldn’t help but harden my heart. Do we consider what these women have lived through? Do we consider they’re slaves? Do we consider they need help?

She was able to finally allow enough trust to be put on a bus to go to an RN who could help her. She was able, through that RN, to find a group of wonderful, giving women who looked past the veneer of protective armor and see a vulnerable human being. She resisted all attempts at “Christian” or Church. Can we blame her?

One of the friends suggested ever so gently that she wanted to watch The Chosen, but if she didn’t want to they wouldn’t. It was the very first episode of Season 1 which showed Mary Magdalene who had 7 demons in her and was the victim of sexual abuse. Someone she could relate to…though I would submit the demons for the young woman were her controllers and the men who used her.

In the dramatic telling, she saw Jesus healing Mary and calling her by name and redeeming her. It even showed in a later episode where Mary Magdalene was “triggered” (think flashback) and ran away. She returned and Jesus forgave her because He loved her. The young woman said she could relate because she knew how to survive the awful reality she had grown up with…that was her life. She didn’t know how to survive hope.

Isn’t that what the 4 year old so desperately wanted? To be loved…not used as a product for sexual gratification? Isn’t that we all long for…hope? Hope in a love that heals and redeems our hearts filled with hurts.

She found she could trust Jesus. She gave Him a 30 day trial and He stayed the course. She found a community of people she could trust and that community is staying with her in her final days, moments, seconds of life because she also is in Hospice now. She was healed spiritually, emotionally but the physical final healing will come when she breathes her last. She longs for that healing because she knows who it is who loves her and is waiting for her and she trusts Him.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfied our desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. Psalm 103:1-6.

When I took my disquiet and pain to God this morning, He told me to keep my eyes on Him. This burden was not mine to carry. It’s His. He will and He does carry our burdens and He will and He does love us and will heal us and forgive us and redeem our lives from the pit and crown us with love and compassion.

My prayer is that He will enfold her in his love and gentle care and lead her home to Him. She is His beautiful child, beautiful daughter. Loved.