When hope is beyond your reach.

The names of the people is the only place this story is not real. A real testimony of a leader in failure. Wrong things done to her and by her.

She sat on the small jetty overlooking the river, its waters rushing by as if it had somewhere urgent to be. Night was falling and only the white caps of the water, caught in the moonlight could be seen.

The jetty was nestled near a cabin her friend Shelby had offered her for a time of rest. Surrounded by the forests of South Carolina, her temporary refuge was now disappearing in the darkness, only broken by the glow of the porch light.

Heavy thoughts crowded her mind, mirroring the darkness surrounding her. She had lost everything, even her name. She thought there is no one to help, no future to be had as the isolation took hold of her soul. “Suicide is the only option”

Immediately she scolded herself, she had never understood or related to others who had considered it, but in this moment she saw no other solution. There was absolutely no future. She pondered, “How would I do it?”

Suddenly she was startled by voices calling her name from the cabin. In this remote place, visitors were unthinkable. Surprised, she snapped out of the spiral of dark, depressing thoughts and walked towards the cabin. Two lovely people greeted her. “Hi I am Sue and this is my husband Sam. Were friends with Shelby and plan to start a ministry. She told us you can help us with this and also how we could find this cabin”.

Shocked, her mind scrambled to shift into helping mode, and just like that, hopelessness about her life vanished into the presence of purpose. Settling into the conversation, she began answering their questions. She realized it was no longer about her, it was about them. Her focus turned outward instead of inwards. As the night went on, the true change occurred when she put on the worship song from Brownsville revival in Florida. The words became alive as they sang, “His Blood has cleansed, forgiven and made new.” Supernaturally she felt Gods love and power in her heart and in that moment, she now she was forgiven and given a new opportunity to truly live. She still felt remorse where wrong had happened and had to walk the path of forgiving and being forgiven with people involved.

Sue and Sam became her dear friends. They will never truly know the impact they had on her life that day. They thought they came to learn but in truth they came to save her life.

She began to truly live again.

“Have you or a love one ever been rescued when you least expected it? Maybe your story or their story is not over yet” Reach out to perfect love where hope lives eternal.

Much love, Adrienne