I never grew up with a strong male role model in my life, my mother had me very young and my father did not want to have me, ( I have never met him). My mother was not ready for the rigours of motherhood,( Although I believe she did the best she could). Out of fear of being alone my mother married my stepfather and he ruled our house with an iron fist.

Many times growing up, I was subject to brutal beatings. After each one I would pray to God to save me, but I endured many lessons as my stepfather would call them. At one point I felt I knew how a punching must have felt as a boxer continually rains blows onto it. As I grew older and more angry about the abuse I had suffered I asked God many times, Why? What could I have possibly learned from this, other then to hide bruises well. I blamed God for not protecting me or giving me the answer I so needed. But as we all know God gives us our answers when it is time, not necessarily when we want them.

It took nearly 12 years for to get the answer, it came in the form of a young man across a table from me his eyes were filled with tears as he shared his story of the abuse he had suffered at the hands of his father. As I looked into his pain filled eyes, the answer I had been searching for most of my life hit me like a speeding truck. God had not abandoned me nor was He punishing me instead I had gone through my hardships so I could simply say, I understand. Not many other words are powerful as those two are. They have the ability to break down walls, unite people, and bring about healing.

God has been saying those two words to us since the beginning of time, He came to this world in the from of Jesus to free us from the penalty of sin yes, but Jesus’ life here was two fold. As much as Jesus was God, He was also a human . A human who felt pain, (physical and emotional), fear, hunger, He was thirsty just like you and I. Why? Simply so no one could ever say God doesn’t understand. He can help us because He gets it.
 

So if God loves us enough to suffer for us so He understand us we may have to go through hardships to be able to say the same thing to someone in need.

So don’t run from your hardships or try to forget them instead embrace them with acceptance and grace, because odds are at some point our Lord will use you sitting across from a person who needs answers you can say I understand, because our job is not always to heal, but bring them to the one who can.