He Will Use It For Good

Hey, Cadre. Family doctor Carrie here. I was on a plane a few years ago sitting next to this woman, a stranger, and just happened to start chatting with her and shared with her my sexual assault story, which, if you don't know my story, I'll give you the really brief version of it. When I was 21, I was stranger, raped, stabbed, and kidnapped. And I'm really thankful, very, very grateful to be alive today to share this story. So I was sharing with her my story and the fact that I had started to recently publicly speak about it and was working on maybe writing a book someday.

And she looked at me with wide eyes, as most people do when I share my story because it's kind of horrific, and said, wow, you know, God doesn't give you more than you can handle. And I wanted to smack her. I'm sorry, but that phrase just really p***** me off because God doesn't give you bad things. And when I hear that over and over from people, I get so angry because I'm thinking, how can there be a God up in heaven that actually loves me and cares about me as it's. As people say or as it's written in the Bible that then allows that to happen to me?

I almost died. Why would God allow that to happen? Just so he can use it for good? So that now I can start speaking about it and write a book and help other people? No, I'm sorry. That phrase just p***** me off to no end. And I want to tell you that, first of all, that's not even what that phrase means in the Bible. If you unpack that scripture, that's not even what it means. But secondly, God doesn't give you bad things. And it took me years to figure this out because as a Christian, I grew up a believer.

I became an atheist after my rape because I thought, how is there a God in heaven that loves me so much, that abandoned me and left me to almost die that night? What kind of God does that? And if you've struggled with a trauma or you've been through something, you probably have had the same question. How is there a God up there that let that happen to me? But I want to tell you today that God doesn't let bad things happen to us. That's not how he works. God gave us free will. He gave everybody free will.

So unfortunately, he gave me free will to decide to go out that night, which doesn't mean that I'm going to get raped, because I decided to go out that night because that wasn't a bad choice. He also gave the person who raped me free will to act on behalf of those evil impulses that he had. So I became a victim of his evil act. And unfortunately, God doesn't stop these things from happening because he gave us free will. And a pastor once told me, God didn't leave you that night. He was holding you.

He was crying with you. He was so sad that his daughter was being hurt by another human being, by another one of his creations, and that his son made the decision to do that to a random woman that night. God did not leave you. So I want to help you understand that. That verse in the Bible, God doesn't give you more than you can handle, doesn't mean that God will take away bad things from our lives. And I can't begin to understand the why behind certain things, like why some people have cancer and they pray and God heals them, and why God has healed my hearing.

I actually used to wear hearing aids. Like, I don't know why some of these things happen and like, why other things don't happen. I don't know if I knew why, I'd be God. Right? Like, he understands the why, but I've just stopped asking the question. Because you can chase around that why answer, why did this happen to me? Why did you let this happen to me? God, you can chase that around for so long, and unfortunately, I don't know that you'll ever get the answer until you meet God himself. But instead of asking that why question, ask God, how can you use this for good?

Because he does promise that in Romans 828 for he will use all things according to his purpose, for good, for those who love him. He will use this situation for good as he's done in my life. Would I like to go back and not have had to go through that experience? Yeah, I would. But I'm also grateful that I'm sitting on the other side of that trauma, very healed, because I've done the hard work to heal, because I've done the therapy, because I've done the counseling and the PTSD support group. I've done it all.

And I'm here to tell you that I'm now using my story for good to help other people. And maybe that doesn't look like coaching or speaking or writing a book for you. Maybe that looks like you just know how to really be a good listener to a friend who's been through something horrific because you've been through it yourself. Like, that takes empathy to a whole nother level when you can say I've been through that experience. I know exactly how you feel. Maybe that's how God wants to use your circumstance for good.

But if you let him, if you let him come in and if you let him heal that trauma and ask him, God, what can I do now that I've been through this horrible thing, to use it for good, to bring you glory, he will. He will redeem that story. I promise you. He will give you back what the enemy stole from you. So I just want to encourage you today that if you hear that scripture, if you hear that phrase, it's okay to just take that thought of, I just want to punch you in the face for just saying that. I wouldn't say act on that.

But it's okay to dispute that thought because that's not what that scripture means. God doesn't give us bad things. He's a good God. He's a loving God. And he wants to help you through your trauma, because he never intended for you to go through trauma in the first place. He's always good, he's always loving, and he never wants you to be hurting. But if you let him into your hurt, you'll find healing on the other side of it. So I'd encourage you today, invite him in and ask him, God, how can you use this horrible thing that I've been through for good?

Thank you for tuning in today. God bless.