Stripped Bare

Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love. Psalm 6:4

Claire had practically raised herself.

“I had a mother who was an alcoholic and drug user. She’d drink and pass out; then my older brothers would beat me and my sister. Or worse, they’d try to touch us, so we’d run and lock ourselves in the bathroom for hours. As we got older, my sister and I would do anything not to go home. Then my mom died when I was fifteen. I didn’t want to live with my brothers, so I set off on my own. I worked all kinds of jobs—waitress, fast food, and a maid. Then I heard there was real money working in a club downtown—a strip club.

“I felt like men had used me my whole life, so why not get paid for it? The money could pay for college, or at least that’s how I rationalized it. I went into the club. I batted my eyes a few times, and the job was mine. I went into the back dressing room and began to strip down. Then I heard a song playing on the radio. The song was ‘Mary, Mary.’ It was a Christian song. At that moment I felt ashamed that I had allowed my life to get this out of control.

“When I was little, a neighbor had taken me to church, where I heard that Jesus loved me. I had responded to that love, prayed a prayer, and asked him to come into my life—but I guess growing up in the home I grew up in, I never felt loved—until that moment, standing in the back of a strip club. It was as if God said, ‘I see you, the real you, and I love you and died for you.’ I ran out of that club—and I’ve never been back. What I did go back to was those friends from the neighborhood who took me to church, and I got reintroduced to Christ. His love is enough to change a life. I know—he changed mine.”

A dramatic example of God’s love? Sure. But that’s just what Jesus did.