[Once a week, I am going to be sharing with you a brave story sent in from a reader. You can comment, respond, encourage. Want to submit your own story or a story of a brave friend of yours? Head to thatisbrave.com!]
This week’s #thatisbrave story comes from Serena. The content of this story is more mature, but I think it’s an important read. I’m so honored she would share her story with us. Her words and name are used with her permission.
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My testimony is a rare one. I never thought it would be my story. I grew up as a pastor’s kid, loved Jesus with, what I said to be, all of who I was. However, my actions didn’t necessarily show it. I have been in three relationships in my life. Out of those relationships, I have been cheated on by two of them, and verbally abused by one. My last relationship is where my testimony is birthed. For a whole year and a half of the backend of my high school years, it was a whirlwind for me. I followed my feelings for a guy, rather than listen to God when He told me, “Wait, Beloved.” I didn’t wait; I was not patient, and because of that…I went through unnecessary struggle and pain, but thank God, Jesus is the Redeemer.
My testimony is too long to write in 500 words, but I will be succinct. My former boyfriend and I began to cross boundaries. The moment came when we were about to have sex. We were literally about to do it (when I mean right there, I mean, RIGHT THERE), and in a blink of an eye Jesus was standing there. He looked into my eyes, with a mix of betrayal and complete compassion. Tears were streaming down His face. “Beloved, you don’t know what you’re doing,” He said. In that moment, I became the woman caught in adultery in the Bible. I differ from her in this way: in that moment, the Person I was committing adultery against was the Person whose feet I was thrown at. An image of me as a little girl with the rainbow overalls and pink tails swinging on the swings came to my head, dreaming of what her life would be–what the future beheld. Such beautiful innocence. Then Jesus said to me, “Beloved, I loved you then in your innocence, and I love you now even if you’re covered in sin. No matter what you choose in this moment, I love you, and I will love you forever.” Tears came to my eyes.
Who would I choose? Do I choose God, an d leave my boyfriend angry? Or do I choose my boyfriend, and grieve the heart of God? I chose God. I pushed my boyfriend off me and said, “I can’t do it.” From that moment on, I have chosen to follow God, because He saved me from myself. To Him be all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. To you ladies, God can save you from anything, even in the heat of the moment.
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If you have any encouragement for Serena and her brave story, leave it below in the comments.
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